Benghazi goes to town with its carnival

By Ayman Amzain

Benghazi, 18 April 2013:

Benghazi put on a great show today for its carnival which brought thousands of people out . . .[restrict]onto the streets to watch the colourful and noisy parade.

The festive mood appeared to be the greater because many onlookers saw the carnival as a chance to prove that their city was not the dangerous flash point so often described by foreign media.

“It is a positive way of starting Benghazi off as the 2013 cultural capital, ” Mohammed Saad told  the Libya Herald, “ as well as to show the world that the city is safe”.

For Amina Jadallah, the parade was a chance to go out with her family without feelings of fear and insecurity.

The procession began in Tahrir Square and wound its way through the city to end, as darkness fell, at the lake, where some ten thousand candles were floated off on the water, which later reflected the bursts of a large fireworks display.

Hundreds of people participated in the parade, including boy scouts, students, members of civil society organisations, school children and sports clubs, marching bands, horsemen, traffic police and a cavalcade of classic and unusual motorcars. [/restrict]