TRIPOLI – All hope for change was crushed for a young Libyan businessman when he saw police kill two protesters outside his shop in central Tripoli. “This is terrible. This is bad,” he said, looking around nervously in an outdoor cafe overlooking Algeria square, the site of recent clashes between opponents and supporters of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi.
“Gaddafi is old. Young people use the Internet. They want change,” he said, speaking anonymously for fear of being identified by the authorities. “I want to make a future for myself. But with Gaddafi, there is no future … Here, we are angry. But we can’t show it because Gaddafi is here in the city.” Just two weeks ago, Tripoli was abuzz with talk of imminent change after uprisings in neighbouring Egypt and Tunisia inspired young people to take to the streets and call for the end of Gaddafi’s four-decade rule.
The deaths of protesters elsewhere in the Arab world have only ignited people’s rage. But in Libya, Gaddafi’s blistering military response to the revolt has shocked people into silence. “I can’t do that (protest),” said the businessman. “I am 25. I don’t want to be shot.” Flanked by grand buildings dating back to Italy’s 1911-1943 colonial rule, his friends nodded in agreement as they smoked waterpipes quietly on the side of the square. Many of them were excited to watch Arab uprisings unfold via reports they saw on social networks.
It was a remarkable novelty for a generation that has known no leader other than Gaddafi. But with the Internet now switched off for most ordinary Libyans and the state security apparatus cracking down on any forms of dissent, many just want to get on with their lives. “I am scared,” said Waleed Jamal, 24, an economics student. He said he wanted to focus on studying and get a good job. “I hope everything will be alright.”
Gaddafi has pledged to fight until the last drop of blood to crush the rebels holed up in their eastern stronghold of Benghazi. He says they are Islamist militants who want to set up a Taliban-style dictatorship in Libya. The rebels say they are fighting for political change and deny any link to extremist groups. They frequently shout pro-democracy slogans adopted from a wave of protests that has swept through the Arab world this year.
Far from the battlefields of the east, where rebels fight troops with heavy weapons, Tripoli’s tech-savvy professionals feel betrayed by the West. But they also feel their peaceful cause has now disintegrated into an ugly guerrilla conflict.
