Labour Condemns 'Libyan Murders'

Labour's spokesperson on Foreign Affairs has spoken out against the Libyan Government's shooting of civilian protesters.

At Monday lunchtime, it is reported that the central government building in the Libyan capital of Tripoli is on fire, while clashes continue the Green Square area of the city.

Protests against the 41-year rule of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi have intensified through the country since Thursday, after the North African country's security forces shot 14 civilians who had campaigning against the Government.

According to Human Rights Watch, over 233 people have been killed by the military since the unrest began last week, while Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi's son, Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, appeared on TV asserting that the army would fight until "the last man standing".

Protesters are believed to be largely in control of the coastal city of Benghazi after forcing troops and police to retreat to a compound. Government buildings were set ablaze and ransacked.

There are also growing reports of mutinous elements from within the Libyan military refusing to shoot civilians and entire sections of troops joining the protesters.

The Libyan unrest closely follows people's revolutions in Tunisia and Egypt, while political protests are growing in other North African nations, Algeria and Morocco. Middle Eastern nations, Yemen and Iran, are also experiencing major political unrest.

Speaking today, Labour's Michael D Higgins said he "condemned unequivocally" the "slaughter of hundreds of innocent civilians" in the Libyan city of Benghazi and recently in the capital of Tripoli.

"There is a wave of change sweeping across the middle east, and it is of critical importance that the international community not only condemn this slaughter, but also give assistance to those movements in the region that are seeking to set up democratic institutions.

"It is very important that international opinion supports the fragile institutions of a democratic and indigenous kind that are emerging in North Africa and the Middle East. "The lesson to the international community must be that it does not have a perfect model that can be exported, much less imposed by overt or tacit means."

It is currently being reported that Colonel Gaddafi has fled the country, and his grip on the country's leadership is slipping.

Gaddafi had recently began building Western Alliances after reigning as a "rogue leader" according to previous western Governments.

(DW/GK)