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Defiant Gaddafi Refuses To Quit Amid Libya Protests
BBC NEWS, MIDDLE EAST
February 22, 2011: Libyan leader Col Muammar Gaddafi has refused to stand down amid widespread anti-government protests, which he said, had tarnished the image of the country. In his first major speech since unrest began last week, Col Gaddafi said the whole world looked up to Libya and that protests were "serving the devil". Reading from the country's constitution, he said enemies of Libya would be executed.
A defiant and angry Col Gaddafi said that he had brought glory to Libya. As he had no official position in Libya from which to resign, he would remain the head of the revolution, he said. He blamed the unrest on "cowards and traitors" who were seeking to portray Libya as a place of chaos and to "humiliate" Libyans.
Civil war threat
The protesters had been given drink and drugs, he said, frequently shouting and banging his fist on the table as the address continued. He called on "those who love Muammar Gaddafi" to come on to the streets in support of him, telling them not to be afraid of the "gangs". "Come out of your homes, attack them in their dens. Withdraw your children from the streets. They are drugging your children, they are making your children drunk and sending them to hell," he said.
"If matters require, we will use force, according to international law and the Libyan constitution," he said, and warned that the country could descend into civil war or be occupied by the US if protests continued.
The BBC's Frank Gardner said it was an extraordinary speech even by Col Gaddafi's usual standards, full of theatrical defiance against almost everyone. He appears completely divorced from reality, says our correspondent, saying that he had not authorized the army to use force, despite opposition statements that more than 500 people have been killed and more than 1,000 are missing.
Human Rights Watch said at least 62 bodies had been taken to hospital morgues since Sunday, in addition to the 233 people it said had been killed outside the capital previously. Rights groups say nearly 300 have been killed in the violence so far.
