Clashes break out on Libya's day of protest

A resident in the eastern city of Benghazi said at least five people had been killed in violence in nearby towns, but with phone lines out of order and access barred for journalists, it was impossible to establish an exact death toll.

Opponents of Gaddafi, communicating anonymously online or working in exile, had urged people to protest on Thursday to try to emulate the popular uprisings which unseated long-serving rulers in neighbouring Tunisia and Egypt.

In the capital of the oil-exporting country there was no sign of unrest, a Reuters reporter said, apart from the pro-Gaddafi demonstrators in the city's Green Square chanting "We are defending Gaddafi!" and waving his portrait.

The source in Benghazi, who said he had been in contact with people in the nearby town of Al Bayda, said the death toll there had risen to five. Two young men were killed on Wednesday and in clashes after their burial three more died, he said.

The same source said there were reports of several deaths in Ajdabiya, about 160 km (100 miles) west of Benghazi.

Gaddafi's opponents say they want political freedoms, respect for human rights and an end to corruption. Gaddafi says Libyans enjoy true democracy through a system of grassroots rule based on institutions called popular committees.

The worst clashes appeared to have taken place in the eastern Cyrenaica region centred on Benghazi, where support for Gaddafi has historically been weaker than in other parts of the country.

Earlier, a resident in Al Bayda told Reuters by telephone: "The situation is still complicated ... The young people do not want to listen to what the elders say."

Phone connections to the town, which is 200 km from Benghazi, were not working on Thursday evening and officials were barring journalists from flying to Benghazi from Tripoli.

Libya's Quryna newspaper reported that the regional security chief had been removed from his post over the deaths of protesters in Al Bayda.

TRUCE OFFER

A group calling itself the Citizens' Forces of Eastern Libya issued a declaration urging an end to the clashes, saying the government would use the violence as a pretext to ignore demands for freedom and justice.

The declaration, obtained by Reuters, proposed a truce until March 2 to "give the regime an opportunity to show its commitment towards transparency and accountability." A source close to the group said it included influential members of Libya's ruling establishment.

Snatches of information about the protests were trickling out from parts of the country on an Arabic-language page used by opposition activists on Facebook, the social networking site.

One post said protesters in Ar Rajban near the border with Algeria set fire to a local government headquarters. In Zenten, south-west of Tripoli, protesters shouted "we will win or die," said another post, which had a photograph of a building on fire.

But in the capital, traffic was moving as normal, banks and shops were open and there was no increased security presence.

Tripoli resident Ahmed Rehibi said anti-government protests were an unnecessary distraction. "We should be concentrating on working, on our schools, because now we are trying to build up our infrastructure," he said.

Political analysts say an Egyptian-style revolt is unlikely because the government can use oil revenues to smooth over most social problems.

Libya has been tightly controlled for more than 40 years by Gaddafi, born in 1942 and now Africa's longest-serving leader, and has immense oil wealth.

"We have problems," Mustafa Fetouri, a Tripoli-based political analyst and university professor, told Reuters. "This is a society that is still behind in many ways, there are certain legitimate problems that have to be sorted out."

However, he said: "I do not really see it (unrest) spreading ... Gaddafi remains well respected."

On the eve of Thursday's protests, SMS messages were sent to mobile phone subscribers throwing down a challenge to anti-Gaddafi protesters. "From the youth of Libya .... Come and face us in any square or street in Libya," it said.

(Additional reporting by Hamid Ould Ahmed and Lamine Chikhi in Algiers; writing by Christian Lowe; editing by Andrew Roche)