By Ashraf Abdul-Wahab.
Tripoli, 7 June 2014:
There were clashes in Tripoli’s Martyrs’ Square early yesterday evening between supporters and opponents of Khalifa . . .[restrict]Hafter which left a number of people injured.
The fighting occurred when supporters of Hafter’s “Operation Dignity” and of the General National Congress and the government of Ahmed Maetig held demonstrations in the same venue.
There have been pro-Hafter demonstrations in the square for the past two Fridays and last Friday there was also an anti-Hafter protest in nearby Algeria Square. Yesterday, according to the police, permission was given for an anti-Hafter demonstration in Martyrs’ Square.
Despite initial police efforts to keep them apart, the presence of pro- and anti-Hafter supporters in the same place inevitably led to shouting between the two sides which developed into hand-to-hand fighting. Individuals on both sides then began using sticks and empty bottles. Shots were then fired, for which both sides blame each other, although it is thought that the firing may have done by the police as a warning to the protestors. No one was injured in the shooting.
Many protestors left at that point as, reportedly, did several of the police. [/restrict]
