15th February 2011 to 21st Feb in the Libyan Civil War

See 22nd February 2011 to 28th Feb in the Libyan Civil War

An article on this subject was deleted on Wikipedia: Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/ April 2011 in the Libyan Civil War WP administrators can restore the edit history of this page upon request

WP+ DEL

{{{name}}}
[[Image:|300px| ]] • Cities controlled by pro-Zwai forces • Cities controlled by pro-Jalil forces (supported by coalition forces) • Ongoing fighting/unclear situation (situation as of 10 April 2011)
Data 1:	{{{data1}}}
Data 2:	this text displayed if data2 not defined
Data 3 (data hidden if data3 empty or not defined):

The 2011 Libyan civil war began on 15 February 2011 as protests progressing to evolve into riots, sabotage, widespread revolutionary violence and then ultimately to foreign interdiction and war. On 25 February, most of Libya was reported to be submitted under Libyan opposition rule and not that of the Jamahiriya (State of the Masses) and its Head of State Mohamed Abu Al-Quasim al-Zwai. The government remained in control of the cities of Tripoli, Sirte and Sabha.

Overview map of developments at the Gulf of Sidra. Dates for changes of hand of individual towns are given in red (rebel offensive) and green (regime offensive).

Early phase (15–26 February)

15 February

• In the evening approximately 200 people began demonstrating in front of the police headquarters in Benghazi following the arrest of Fathi Terbil. They were joined by others later who totaled between 500 to 600 protesters. The protest was broken up violently by police, causing as many as forty injuries among the protesters.

• In Al Bayda and Az Zintan, hundreds of protesters called for "the end of the regime" and set fire to police and security buildings. In Az Zintan, the protesters set up tents in the town centre.

16 February

• Protests continued in Benghazi, where hundreds of protesters gathered at Maydan al-Shajara before security services tried to disperse the crowd using water cannons. After clashes between the two groups, the police left. Al-Yawm estimated a crowd of more than 1,500 people attempting to storm the internal security building in Al Bayda.Template:citation needed The protesters set fire to two cars and burnt down the headquarters of the traffic police. In the ensuing clashes with police six people died and three were injured. In Al-Quba, more than 400 protesters over a wide range of ages set fire to the police station. Protests were also reported in Darnah and Az Zintan, though there were no injuries.

• Insurgent rallies of many dozens of Jamahiriya supporters and Tripolitanian people also took place.

• Reportedly as a response to the demonstrations, Libya released 110 members of the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group from prison on 16 February.

17 February – Day of Revolt

• Anonymous instigators called for a "Day of Revolt. The National Conference for the Libyan Opposition stated that "all" groups opposed to Muammar Gaddafi both within Libya and in exile planned the protests in memory of the demonstrations in Benghazi on 17 February 2006 that were initially against the Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons, but which turned into protests against the al-Zwai regime.

• In Benghazi, the government released thirty prisoners from jail, armed them and paid them to fight against protesters. Several demonstrators were killed by snipers and gunfire from helicopters. The Evening Standard and Al Jazeera English estimated that fourteen people were killed. The latter reported that an eyewitness saw six unarmed protesters shot dead by police. The BBC News reported that "at least 15 people" were killed in the clashes. Furthermore, .50 calibre sniper ammunition was used against protesters.

• Libya al-Youm reported that four people were shot dead by sniper fire in Al Bayda and a Libyan human-rights group reported thirteen people had been killed. In Ajdabiya and Darnah at least ten and six protesters were killed by police, respectively. Protests also took place across Tripoli and in Zentan, where a number of government buildings including a police station were set on fire.

18 February

• Thousands of anti-government protesters gathered in front of the Benghazi courthouse. According to the BBC News, a "doctor at Benghazi's Jalla hospital" told them that he had "seen 15 bodies – all dead from gunshot wounds" by the time he left the hospital "in the early hours of [the day]". Police and army personnel later withdrew from the city after being overwhelmed by protesters. Some army personnel also joined the protesters; they then seized the local radio station. In Al Bayda, unconfirmed reports indicated that the local police force and riot-control units joined the protesters. Two police officers who were accused of shooting protesters were hanged by protesters.

• Fifty loyal mercenaries and two Jamahiriya loyalists were lynched by usurpation riot mobs in Al Bayda. Other loyalists were tortured to death in Derna after usurpation riot gang vigilantes kidnapped them, locked them up in a prison, and then burned it down.

• The Libyan government began hiring African mercenaries, mostly from Chad, to support its own forces. It was reported that "they were paid for 5,000 (Dinars) and the latest model cars just to get rid of demonstrators", according to inside sources.

• The Libyan newspaper Quryna reported that about 1,000 non-political prisoners had escaped from a Benghazi prison.Template:citation needed A security source told Agence France-Presse that four inmates were shot dead during a breakout attempt in Tripoli.

• The Libyan government initially restricted access to the Internet in Libya for several hours, but later imposed a more comprehensive and sustained blackout.

19 February

Opposition protests outside the White House, Washington, D.C., on 19 February

• Widespread protests continued for another day. Demonstrators in Benghazi had reportedly taken control of Benina International Airport early in the day.

• The opposition warned civilians of a massacre by the government, unless the international community applied pressure. Witnesses in Libya have reported helicopters firing into crowds of anti-government protesters. The army withdrew from the city of Al Bayda. Human Rights Watch and the Libyan newspaper Quryna said thousands of demonstrators had poured out onto the streets in Benghazi and other eastern cities on 18 February, a day after the clashes in which 49 people were killed, and that some protests were still continuing. Artillery, helicopter gunships and antiaircraft missile launchers were used to kill protesters. Security forces reportedly opened fire at a funeral in Benghazi on Saturday, killing at least fifteen people and injuring scores more. The funeral was to honour protesters killed by security forces during the on-going protests.

• A doctor from Benghazi's Al-Jalah Hospital said staff there had received fifteen bodies and were treating numerous people following the shootings at the funeral. "This is not a well-equipped hospital and these injuries come in waves," he said. "All are very serious injuries, involving the head, the chest and the abdomen. They are bullet injuries from high-velocity rifles." The hospital counted forty-four deaths in three days, and was struggling to treat the wounded. The residents of Benghazi told Al Jazeera that at least 200 people had died, while the Human Rights Watch put the countrywide death toll at a "conservative" 104 on the 19th. A bank was looted in Benghazi.

• Anti-government protests were also reported in Misrata, where thousands of people took part in peaceful protests. They were demonstrating against state brutality and censorship, rather than calling for a change in government.

• Both pro- and anti-government protests broke out in other major cities, including Al Bayda, Derna, Tobruk and Misrata.

• Several hundred government supporters and party activists took to the streets in large numbers, and security forces prevented large demonstrations against the 42-year-old regime. A bank was wrecked and looted in Tripoli.

• According to figures compiled by Agence France-Presse from local sources, at least forty-one people had been killed since demonstrations first started on 15 February. The toll excludes two policemen, newspapers said, who had been hung in Al Bayda on 18 February. Human Rights Watch, citing phone interviews with hospital staff and eye witnesses, said that security forces had killed more than eighty usurpation protesters in eastern Libya. Opposition groups later put the number of dead at over 120. The residents of Benghazi told Al Jazeera that at least 200 people had died while Human Rights Watch put the countrywide death toll at a "conservative" 104. The security forces (troops and police) of Benghazi were in their barracks while the city was in a state of civil mutiny.

• Mohamed Abdulmalek, the chairman of the human-rights group Libya Watch, commented that the delay of protests in the west was due to the heavy presence of Libya's State Security Forces and secret police were out there and "not because the people did not want to go out".

• Former UK Foreign Secretary and Chairman of the Commons Intelligence and Security Committee Sir Malcolm Rifkind told BBC Radio 4's Today Programme that the protests across the Middle East were resembling the anti-Communist/pro-democracy events in Eastern Europe of 1989. UK Foreign Secretary William Hague said he was "deeply concerned" by the "unacceptable violence" used against protesters.

20 February

• Protests escalated with residents also reporting small protests beginning in Tripoli, indicating a widening of the unrest from the eastern half of Libya into the Mahmudi administration's center of power. Hospitals confirmed that they had run out of supplies and doctors estimated the death toll in Benghazi to be between 200 and 300. After the people of Benghazi beat back the police and captured several key military barracks local military brigades joined the protesters. By this time, protesters in Benghazi numbered in the tens of thousands, possibly in the hundreds of thousands. Reports also emerged of loyalist militia by the Elfedeel Bu Omar compound "being butchered by angry mobs." Al Jazeera said that protesters were in control of the city as government security forces fled to the airport. Further military units were reported to have defected in order to protect protesters. Several senior Muslim clerics and tribal leaders from around Libya called for an end to the bloodshed by the regime, and for the government to step down. A "spontaneous" protest occurred in Tripoli by night where the protesters quickly overran police. One tribal leader threatened to block oil exports.

• The Tuareg tribe in the south was said to have answered a call by the larger Warfalla tribe to take part in the protests. The Tuareg towns of Ghat and Ubary were also locations for violence, with members of the tribe reportedly attacking government buildings and police stations.

File:Saif al-Islam television.jpg

Saif al-Islam addressing Libya on Libyan state television, 20 February 2011.

• Saif al-Islam appeared on state television and blamed the violence and protests, including "acts of sabotage and burning", on "foreign agents", and in particular, Israel, as corroborated by other Arab leaders in Egypt, Tunisia and Yemen when portraying the pre-war violence in its wider perspective. He said that the unrest "may cause civil war". He also said that Libya was different from its neighbours. He ended by warning, "We will fight to the last man and woman and bullet. We will not lose Libya. We will not let Al Jazeera, Al Arabiya and BBC trick us." State-run Al-Shababiya was reportedly attacked in the evening following Saif El Islam's address.

• The United States Department of State, through the American Embassy, issued a travel warning to US citizens due to the continuing unrest in Libya. The European Union called on the government to refrain from using force and to answer the protesters' grievances.

• In the night, clashes escalated in Tripoli, with protesters trying to seize control of Green Square. Witnesses reported snipers firing into the crowds, and loyalist militia driving around the square, shooting, and running rioters over. Rioters burned a police and security forces' station and the General People's Congress' building.

21 February

• Saif al-Islam called for a "general assembly" to discuss grievances.

Representatives of the Libyan Community in Ireland demonstrating in Dublin, Ireland, against the Jamahiriya on 21 February 2011.

• In Benghazi, rioters took control of the streets, looted weapons from the main security headquarters and seized the local radio station, starting their own broadcasts under the name Voice of Free Libya. They also stole the Libyan flag from above the main courthouse and replaced it with the Idris monarchy standard. Libyan Air Force warplanes and attack helicopters launched airstrikes on protesters, reportedly targeting a funeral procession and a group of protesters trying to reach a military base. Two senior mutineering air force pilots flew their Dassault Mirage F1 fighter jets to Malta and requested political asylum after defying orders to bomb protesters. Two civilian helicopters also landed in Malta, carrying seven passengers who claimed to be French oil workers.

• Reports indicated the People's Hall in Tripoli, which serves as the meeting place for the General People's Congress, had been set on fire. There were also reports that the state-television building had been smashed up by protesters and that at least one Tripoli police station was burned down. Libyan Navy warships were reported to have begun bombardment of residential areas causing an unknown number of casualties. Banks and other government buildings were looted throughout the day. Demonstrators clashed with security forces, and heavy gunfire was heard throughout the city. At least sixty-one people were killed.

• Some people alleged that they were offered money to turn up for Libyan government initiated peace rallies outside Libya. Within Libya, state-run television showed loyalist rallies, though the international media doubted the authenticity of these protests as possibly having been staged.

• The Libyan Navy reportedly shelled demonstrators from the sea.

• The BBC News reported that the Libyan Army was "fighting forces loyal to Colonel Gaddafi, who appears to be struggling to hold on to power." A group of army officers also called upon their fellow soldiers to "join the people" and remove Gaddafi from office. Islamic leaders and clerics in Libya urged all Muslims to rebel against Gaddafi. Libyan Ambassadors to Indonesia, Bangladesh, the European Union and India also resigned in protest of the actions of the al-Zwai regime.

• Internet hacktivists Anonymous issue a statement advising NATO to leave Libya alone.