Protesters set House of Representatives on fire in eastern Libya
TRIPOLI (AA) – Protesters on Friday raided the House of Representatives in Tobruk in eastern Libya and set it on fire, reported the local media.
Videos showing smoke rising from parliament were shared all over social media.
A group had organized on social media under the Youth Revolution slogan and called for demonstrations and civil disobedience on July 1 in all cities. Demonstrators demand that legislative and executive bodies be abolished, a state of emergency declared and elections held as soon as possible.
Hundreds of young people gathered in Martyrs’ Square in the nation’s capital of Tripoli and started the protest.
No results from talks in Egypt, Geneva
Negotiations of a joint committee consisting of Libya’s High Council of State and members of the House, which were held under the leadership of the UN from June 11 – 19 in Cairo, did not yield progress.
With the participation of the UN special adviser on Libya, Stephanie Williams, meetings in Geneva on June 28 – 30 with the presidents of the House of Representatives, Aguila Saleh and High Council of State, Khaled al-Mishri did not reach a consensus.
Williams had announced earlier on Thursday that the sides could not reach an agreement and that Fathi Bashagha, who was elected prime minister by the House in Tobruk, threatened to enter Tripoli by force.
Background to the current situation
At the meetings of the UN-led Libyan Political Dialogue Forum in November 2020, presidential and parliamentary elections were decided to be held on December 24, 2021, but polls could not be held on the scheduled date.
The House, based in Tobruk, elected Bashagha as prime minister in February. Most deputies in the west of the country did not attend that session on the grounds that the mandate of the Government of National Unity (GNU) had expired on December 24, 2021. The Bashagha government was granted a vote of confidence on March 1.
Meanwhile, GNU Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibeh accused the House of deviating from the roadmap determined in the Geneva Agreement and said he was in charge and would hand power only to an elected government.
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