By Noora Ibrahim.
Benghazi, 14 June 2014:
Protests demanding the resignation of Libya’s Grand Mufti, Sheikh Sadik Al-Ghariani, attracted several hundred demonstrators in . . .[restrict]Benghazi and Tripoli yesterday.
In Benghazi some 200 people staged their protest outside the city’s Tibesti Hotel. Demonstrators accused Ghariani of involvement with Qatar and the Muslim Brotherhood and having a political agenda that was beyond his religious remit.
One placard described him as the Grand Mufti only for Qatar and the Muslim Brotherhood, rather than the whole of Libya.
Last week, the leader of the former National Transitional Council, Mustafa Abdul-Jalil, called for Ghariani to be dismissed after the Grand Mufti made a televised appearance encouraging Libyans to fight against General Khalifa Hafter’s Operation Dignity, which he described as a war against Islam. Ghariani said that those supporting the operation were infidels and that anyone who died fighting in opposition to the movement would be considered martyrs.
Protestors outside the Tibesti also voiced support for Operation Dignity and the Libyan armed forces and police, chanting “no to terrorism.”
Some demonstrators also spoke out against the head of the United Nations Special Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) Tarek Mitri and one carried a placard warning him against pursuing the National Dialogue initiative. The initiative has been widely-criticised on social media websites for not representing all parties in Libya. Such criticisms are believed to have contributed to UNSMIL’s recent decision to postpone a meeting about the initiative planned for the 18 and 19 of June.
Several Benghazi protestors also tore down a poster of Ali Bouzakok, one of the candidates standing for Libya’s new parliament, the House of Representatives, accusing him of being affiliated to the Muslim Brotherhood.
Seraj Essul adds from Tripoli: Some 400 supporters of Operation Dignity gathered in Tripoli’s Martyrs’ Square in the late afternoon in a similar protest, demanding the Grand Mufti be sacked and that the government support the army in the fight against terrorism. The protestors also criticised Tarek Mitri, calling for his dismissal.
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