Libya: Protesters, troops clash in Tripoli
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Cairo: Protesters and security forces battled in the center of Tripoli as anti-government unrest spread to the Libyan capital and Moammar Gadhafi's son went on state television to proclaim that his father remained in charge with the army's backing and would 'fight until the last man, the last woman, the last bullet'.
Since the six days of unrest began, more than 200 people have been killed, according to medical officials, human rights groups and exiled dissidents.
Even as Seif al-Islam Gadhafi spoke last night, clashes were raging in and around Tripoli's central Green Square, lasting until dawn today, witnesses said.
They reported snipers opening fire on crowds trying to seize the square, and Gadhafi supporters speeding through in vehicles, shooting and running over protesters.
Early today, protesters took over the office of two of the multiple state-run satellite news channels, witnesses said.
The protests and violence were the heaviest yet in the capital, a sign of the spread of unrest after six days of demonstrations in eastern cities demanding the end of the elder Gadhafi's rule.
In Libya's second biggest city, Benghazi, protesters were in control of the streets Monday after days of bloody clashes and were swarming over the main security headquarters, looting weapons, several residents said.
A Turkish Airlines flight trying to land in Benghazi on Monday was forced to circle over the airport then return to Istanbul.
Protesters in Benghazi took down the Libyan flag from above the city's main courthouse and in its place raised the flag of the country's old monarchy, toppled in 1969 in the military coup that brought Moammar Gadhafi to power, one witness said.
Libya has seen the bloodiest crackdown of any Arab country on the wave of protests sweeping the region that toppled the leaders of Egypt and Tunisia.
Gadhafi's son said his father would prevail.
"We are not Tunisia and Egypt," he said. "Moammar Gadhafi, our leader, is leading the battle in Tripoli, and we are with him."
"The armed forces are with him. Tens of thousands are heading here to be with him. We will fight until the last man, the last woman, the last bullet," he said in a rambling and sometimes confused speech of nearly 40 minutes.
He warned the protesters that they risked igniting a civil war in which Libya's oil wealth 'will be burned'.
He also promised 'historic' reforms in Libya if protests stop. Seif has often been put forward as the regime's face of reform.
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