Libyan protesters storm television, radio

Feb 21, 2011 |

AFP/PTI

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Cairo: Protesters in the Libyan capital Tripoli sacked state broadcast offices and set branches of the People's Committees that are the mainstay of the regime ablaze overnight, witnesses said on Monday.

"The headquarters of Al-Jamahiriya Two television and Al-Shababia radio have been sacked," one witness told the media over the phone on condition of anonymity.

Broadcasts on both channels were interrupted on Sunday evening but resumed Monday morning.

A number of witnesses said protesters had torched public buildings in the capital overnight, not only People's Committee offices but also police stations.

The People's Conference Centre in Tripoli's residential neighbourhood of Hay Al-Andalous - which regularly hosts pro-regime demonstrations and official meetings - was also set alight, a resident who lives nearby told the media.

Al-Jamahiriya 2, the second state television channel, and Al-Shababia were launched by Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi's influential son Saif al-Islam in 2008 and later nationalised when broadcasting was declared a state monopoly.

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