TRIPOLI — Thousands of people gathered in Libya's
capital Tripoli on Friday to protest a parliamentary no-confidence vote against
the unity government earlier this week, three months ahead of planned
elections.
اضافة اعلان
Protesters gathered in Martyrs' Square with Libyan flags and
placards reading "parliament doesn't represent me" and "the
people want parliament to fall" as well as slogans against divisions in
the North African country.
Libya saw a decade of war following its 2011 revolt which
toppled dictator Muammar Gadhafi, but an October ceasefire between eastern and
western camps and a UN-led peace process had sparked hopes of stability.
A unity government took office in March with a mandate to
prepare for December elections, but thorny negotiations over electoral laws
have placed growing doubts over the UN-led process.
Earlier this month, the speaker of the east-based parliament
Aguila Saleh outraged opponents by ratifying an electoral law seen as bypassing
due process and favouring military strongman
Khalifa Haftar.
Then on Tuesday parliament passed a no-confidence vote in
the Tripoli-based unity government of interim Prime Minister Abdulhamid
Dbeibah.
In response, Dbeibah called for a "huge
demonstration" which took place Friday in Martyrs' Square, an esplanade in
central Tripoli lined with palm trees and surrounded by Italian colonial-style
buildings.
The upper house of parliament based in the capital rejected
the no-confidence vote, saying it violated established procedures, laying bare
once more the extent of divisions between the country's east and west.
But Dbeibah insisted Tuesday that elections must take place.
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