Protesters stormed Libya’s parliament building in the eastern city of Tobruk, demonstrating against deteriorating living conditions and political deadlock, Al Jazeera reports.
Several television channels reported on Friday that protesters had managed to penetrate the parliament building and committed acts of vandalism, while media outlets showed images of thick columns of black smoke coming from its perimeter as angry young protesters burned tyres.
Other media reports said part of the building had been burned. The parliament building was empty as Friday falls on the weekend in Libya.
“We want the lights to work,” protesters chanted.
Earlier on Friday, demonstrations also took place in other cities, al-Wasat reported. In the capital Tripoli, in the west of the country, several hundred people gathered in a central square, where they protested against armed militias and demanded a better electricity supply and lower bread prices.
Images from the protest in Tobruk in the east of the country showed a protester driving a bulldozer that had managed to smash through part of a gate, allowing other demonstrators to enter the parliament building more easily. Other protesters, some brandishing the green flags of the Gaddafi regime, threw office documents into the air.
Libya has endured several days of power cuts, worsened by the blockade of several oil facilities against the backdrop of political rivalries.
Lawmaker Balkheir Alshaab told Libyan channel Al-Ahrar, “We must recognise our failure and immediately withdraw from the political scene”.
