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10 killed in Libya cartoon riot
18/02/2006 10:39 - (SA)
Afaf el-Geblawi
Tripoli - At least 10 people were killed and dozens more wounded when demonstrators torched Italy's consulate in the Libyan city of Benghazi, in the deadliest protest yet against the Prophet Muhammad cartoons.
Police threw teargas grenades and opened fire with live ammunition in the eastern coastal city on the 1 000 demonstrators, some of whom who had overwhelmed security forces to storm the consulate building and set it ablaze.
"At least 10 demonstrators have been killed according to the police who sent me that toll," the first secretary of the Italian embassy in Tripoli, Dominico Bellatoni told AFP.
He added: "No Italian was hurt when a thousand demonstrators attacked the consular building after Friday prayers and set the first floor on fire."
Another Italian diplomat, who asked not to be named, said: "The consulate was closed to the public and only six staff members were inside, but none of them was injured."
Private sources contacted from Tripoli said the toll was higher, "between 15 and 25," while "very many injured" had been taken to the Al Jala hospital in Libya's second city and economic powerhouse.
Libyan television said that 11 people had been "hit, some of them killed" and added that the Benghazi authorities had asked the public prosecutor to open a probe into the police handling of the demonstrators.
Television pictures showed angry demonstrators setting fire to the Italian flag and thick clouds of black smoke billowing into sky from the consulate building.
It was the first action against Italian interests in a Muslim country since protests began against Muhammad caricatures throughout the Islamic world but reflected similar attacks on Western missions in Lebanon, Iran and Syria.
Provocative actions
A possible spark for the outrage of the protestors were the provocative actions by Italian reform minister Roberto Calderoli of the xenophobic Northern League party, who vowed to sport T-shirts displaying the Muhammad cartoons.
Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi urged Calderoli, who has in the past referred to Muslim immigrants to Italy as "Ali Babas", to resign after his latest antics.
Police sources said a group split off from the main demonstration in downtown Benghazi and headed for the consulate, the only Western mission in the city, bearing banners with Islamist slogans.
Some of the marchers shouted slogans against the Libyan regime of Colonel Moamer Kadhafi, according to witnesses.
"A large number of police vehicles was sent to the scene to encircle and contain the demonstrators, but some managed to get through the barrier and got into the consular building which they set alight," police said.
An official statement issued after the demonstration said: "Libya denounces and stigmatises what an irresponsible group did on Friday and which in no way reflects the feelings of the Libyan people."
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