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By Libya Herald staff.
Malta, 18 January 2015:
The Tibesti hotel in central Benghazi was struck by a shell yesterday. There were no . . .[restrict]reports of any casualties.
The hotel had for a long time become a focal point for demonstrations in the city since the revolution.
The attack on Benghazi’s ici hotel comes at a time when the city is supposed to be enjoying a nationwide ceasefire declared as part of the Geneva UNSMIL-sponsored talks
This is not the first time that the hotel has been the subject of an attack. In November 2014, an indiscriminate rocket struck the hotel, but again resulting in no casualties.
In October, one man was killed and two others injured in an explosion outside the hotel.
Large protests had been held regularly in the open area by the Tibesti Hotel. They have tended to be anti-Islamist in character and in opposition to the General National Congress (GNC).
They have sometimes resulted in protestors being attacked and even killed, such as in October 2013 when gunmen opened fire on demonstrators. The following month a bomb was thrown at anti-Ansar Al-Sharia protestors outside the Tibesti.
In recent months, in the face of escalating violence in Benghazi, these Friday protests have been ever more sparsely attended.
More recently the hotel was at one stage earmarked to host the House of Representatives (HoR), however the continued insecurity in the city meant that the HoR had to resort to Tobruk.
Yesterda’s attack on the hotel puts into context the extent to which the official HoR backed Libyan National Army has, or has not, been able to gain tight control of security in the city of Benghazi. [/restrict]
