(Reuters) - Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi appeared on state television Tuesday to denounce a popular uprising against his 41-year rule.
Following are edited highlights of his comments.
ON MARTYRDOM
"I am not going to leave this land, I will die here as a martyr....I shall remain here defiant."
URGING PUBLIC SUPPORT FOR HIS RULE
"From tomorrow, families collect your children, leave your homes, all of you who love Muammar Gaddafi, go out the streets, secure the streets, don't be afraid of them."
"Chase them, arrest them, hand them over to the security (forces)," he said of the protesters. "They are only a few, they are terrorists."
"You are millions while they are only 100."
ON THE USE OF FORCE
"We have not used force yet, but if we need to use force, we will use it."
"Do you want America to occupy you, like Afghanistan and Iraq?"
"If weapons are not handed over... we will announce the holy march, I will call on millions from one desert to another to cleanse Libya house by house..."
ON PROTESTERS
"No sound person has taken part in these actions, they are all children."
"Peaceful protest is one thing but armed rebellion is another."
ON PUNISHMENT FOR REBELS
"All their crimes they committed are punishable by execution under Libyan law."
"They are turning Libya into an (Islamic) emirate of Zawahri and Bin Laden, a new Afghanistan."
