Groups of demonstrators continued throughout last week and over the weekend their civil disobedience actions against government and state buildings in Tripoli.
These are ostensibly motivated by the acute power cuts and blackouts across Libya that have increased since the middle of June. This was compounded by Libya experiencing an extremely hot summer this year.
Following the barricading of several government buildings the previous week and weekend with a truck-full of building rubble, the activists have now changed tack and escalated their barricades by soldering/welding the metal entrances to government and state buildings.
The activists have circulated video clips of their members purportedly welding the entrances of at least 12 buildings. These include:
· The Ministry of Agriculture
· The Anti-Corruption Commission
· The Tripoli headquarters of the House of Representatives
· The Ministry of Foreign Affairs
· The Housing and Infrastructure Board (HIB)
· The state news agency LANA
· The Libya Africa Investment Portfolio (LAIP)
· The Ministry of Marine Resources
· The Organisation for the Development of Administrative Centres (ODAC)
· The Ministry of Planning
· The Privatisation and Investment Board (PIB)
· The Ministry of Sport
The activists have also welded the gate of a house in the Noflyeen area claiming that it is one of Aldabaiba’s homes. Aldabaiba’s heavily guarded main home is in the Hay Al-Andalous area.
The protesters also temporarily burnt tyres in Sikka Road where the Prime Minister’s Office is located. The road was reopened soon after.
Escalating demands
While it is difficult to say that the activists are consistent and unified, in the main their various social media posts and placards in demonstrations have now escalated their demands from a stable supply of electricity to an overthrow of the Tripoli government - and all the leading political bodies. To this end, they are calling for a national strike and civil disobedience.
Government countermeasures
The Tripoli government has taken countermeasures by spreading more security forces around the city. There have been, and there are still ongoing reports of various security forces entering Tripoli as reinforcements for the Tripoli government. These are arriving mainly from Misrata.
However, coincidentally or by design, this has been – so far - a softly, softly approach. The security forces have not (so far) confronted the activists or attempted to prevent them from welding and barricading the gates of government and state buildings.
It is unclear how long this convenient accommodation will last, and it will be interesting to see what the reaction of the security forces will be if the demonstrators go for a direct head-to-head confrontation.
A hardcore group of activists or a grass roots national movement?
The activists have posted on their social media sites calling for a nationwide ‘‘movement’’ and uprising. However, despite their call for a huge gathering in the centre of Tripoli’s Martyr Square for such an uprising over the weekend – this has failed to materialise – so far.
It must also be noted that on the face of it, the activists are not very clear about their ‘‘post downfall’’ vision. There are fears that the protestors are just a group of hardcore activists who could be infiltrated, mobilised and orchestrated by ‘‘enemies of Tripoli’’ seeking to take advantage of the electricity chaos to destabilise the Tripoli regime.
It is too early to say, but it seems the protests have not - so far - snowballed into a full political popular uprising.
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