Tripoli: March 24
Brigadesmen from Zintan this evening forced their way into Tripoli’s five-star Rixos Al Nasr hotel and kidnapped the Turkish . . .[restrict]manager.
The Turkish-owned hotel has long been protected by the self-same Zintan brigade. However widespread anger among militiamen at the government’s failure to pay all fighters in the revolution their promised bounty – LD 4,000 for a family man and LD 2,400 for a single man – has seen a spate of protests in recent weeks.
On Thursday, Salah Agab, Chairman of the Department of Antiquities, was kidnapped by unidentified militiamen, only to be freed the following day. It is believed that the brigadesmen responsible released Agab following payment of the promised bounties.
It is possible that the manager of the Rixos may also recently have incensed the Zintan brigadesmen. One member of the hotel staff, who asked not to be named, said that for months the militiamen has used part of the 120 luxury room hotel “as if they owned it”. The staffer said that attempts by the hotel management to charge the brigadesmen for their accommodation had produced “considerable tensions.”
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