TRIPOLI – Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi on Tuesday said he would not step down despite a nationwide revolt against his rule, vowing to die in Libya as a martyr and threatening tougher action against protesters.
A visibly angry Gaddafi called protesters rats and mercenaries who wanted to turn Libya into an Islamic state. “I am not going to leave this land. I will die here as a martyr … I shall remain here defiant,” Gaddafi said in a speech on state television.
“Muammar Gaddafi is the leader of the revolution, I am not a president to step down … This is my country. Muammar is not a president to leave his post, Muammar is leader of the revolution until the end of time.” Gaddafi said in a rambling 75-minute address, apparently made in front of his residential compound which was bombed by US warplanes in 1986, that under Libyan law the protesters deserved the death sentence.
He said that he would call the people to cleanse Libya house by house unless protesters on the streets surrendered. Pounding his fist on a podium, Gaddafi called on people to take to the streets on Wednesday in a show of support for him. “From tomorrow, families collect your children, leave your homes, all of you who love Muammar Gaddafi, go out to the streets, secure the streets, don’t be afraid of them,” he said.
“Chase (the protesters), arrest them, hand them over to the security (forces). They are only a few, they are terrorists. You are millions while they are only 100,” he said. “We have not used force yet, but if we need to use force we will use it,” he said. Proclaiming support of the people, Gaddafi ordered the army and police to crush the popular uprising against his iron-fisted rule that has already left hundreds dead in the past eight days.
Ordering protesters to surrender their weapons immediately, saying there would be a “slaughter” otherwise, he threatened to purge Libya “house by house” and “inch by inch”, while viewing to “fight to the last drop of my blood”. Both the UN Security Council and Arab League were to meet to discuss the bloody crackdown by Libyan authorities. The Arab League said it had barred Libya from attending its meetings until Tripoli responded to the demands of anti-regime protesters.
In a late night development, the Libyan minister for interior announced he was resigning and called on the army to support the people against the dictator. The minister escaped an assassination attempt by Gaddafi’s supporters soon after his announcement.
