Libya Parliament moves to five-star hotel after attack
ESAM MOHAMED | AP
Published — Tuesday 4 March 2014
TRIPOLI: Libya's Parliament moved into a five-star Tripoli hotel Monday, a day after rioters armed with knives and guns stormed the legislature building, torching furniture, killing a guard and wounding six lawmakers in the latest episode of turmoil in the country.
Tensions have been mounting between the country's biggest political blocs, each backed by militias, adding to the potential explosiveness of political disputes. Protesters demanded that parliament be disbanded immediately after its mandate ran out in January.
In Sunday's violence, dozens of protesters swept into the Parliament chamber while it was in session, shooting guns, throwing bottles at lawmakers and setting fire to furniture. They took the seat of Parliament's president — the head of a main bloc — tied it to a lamppost outside and set it on fire.
One guard was killed while trying to protect workers trapped inside, security official Essam Al-Naass said. Two lawmakers were shot in their legs, one was injured with broken glass and others were beaten up while trying to leave the premises.
Lawmaker Hussein Al-Ansari told The Associated Press that Parliament will now hold its sessions in the five-star Waddan hotel in the capital's downtown.
Parliament's President, Nouri Abu Sahmein, denounced Sunday's attack in a televised statement, saying it targeted "the headquarters of legitimacy."
He warned against using young men after equipping them with weapons to carry "actions against legitimacy" without naming certain party or group.
Some lawmakers said that the assault was triggered by an earlier attack on an anti-Parliament sit-in a day earlier where unidentified assailants kidnapped two of the protesters for one day after setting fire to a tent, witnesses said.
Lawmaker Souad Sultan, from the National Forces Alliance, said the kidnapping "triggered the violent reaction, which might have been exploited by a certain party." She said she came under attack by the protesters who surrounded her car and stomped it with their feet and fists while trying to block the road in front of her."
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