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Tripoli Streets Deserted After Gadhafi Urges Attacks on Protesters

   VOA News  February 23, 2011
   Libyan  protesters  protest  against Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi, in
   Tobruk, Libya, February 23, 2011

Photo: AP

   Libyan  protesters  protest  against Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi, in
   Tobruk, Libya, February 23, 2011

   Witnesses in the Libyan capital Tripoli say many streets were deserted
   Wednesday,  with  residents  afraid  to leave their homes, a day after
   Libyan   leader   Moammar  Gadhafi  urged  his  supporters  to  attack
   anti-government demonstrators.
   The  witnesses told foreign news agencies that armed Gadhafi loyalists
   and  mercenaries  from other African nations were roaming the capital,
   threatening people who gather in groups and occasionally opening fire.
   In  Gadhafi's  first  televised  address since an uprising against his
   rule  began  last  week,  he  vowed  to  stay  in  power and called on
   supporters  to  fight  back  against  opposition  protesters  whom  he