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Tripoli, 1 May:
There were armed clashes in three areas of Tripoli on Tuesday evening, in Suq Al-Jouma, Hadba Al-Khadra and downtown, . . .[restrict]at the intersection of 24 December Street and Shara Ennasser. The city’s main highway was closed as a result of the clashes.
Speaking later about the incident in 24 December Street, outside the Interior Ministry, Al-Fituri Agribil, head of the city’s Supreme Security Committee, said that a group of militiamen, whom he described as “lawbreakers”, had been indiscriminately firing at residential buildings in the street as well as targeting the ministry building. The situation was now calm, he said. Two people had been arrested.
In Suq Al-Jouma, he said that forces from a brigade had attacked a building belonging to the Foreign Ministry. A number had been arrested but others escaped.
In Hadba Al-Khadra, Agribil said that there had been a fight between members of the Tripoli Revolutionary Brigade and of the Shara Ajdabiya Revolutionary Brigade over a government building. He said that forces from the security committee had been sent to the area to take it over. No one had been killed in the clashes although one person had been injured. Members of the Hawmat Al-Watan brigade had joined those of the Supreme Security Committee in dealing with the matter, he said.
The clashes have unnerved a number of people in the capital, coming on the day that armed revolutionaries surrounded the NTC offices and force concessions out of council as well as being the day the election registration centres opened. A source close to the Interior Ministry said that residents in the area gathered after the clashes outside the building, complaining about the lack of decisive action by ministry forces to ensure peace and security. [/restrict]
