TRIPOLI — Prime Minister Ali Zidan has warned that lawlessness will not be tolerated. The government, he has said, was moving forward in the building of state institutions but there were “some entities” which wanted Libya to remain in chaos “in order for them to accomplish their interests”. He did not specify who he had in mind but said that the government would “not allow any obstacles to hinder our work or stop us”. He urged Libyans to stand by the government's side and to support it to achieve that end. His comments, made at a cabinet meeting, followed two days of disturbances in Tripoli in which at least two people died and several others were injured. The clashes started on Monday when, following the death of an alleged drugs dealer from the capital's Fashloum district, angry locals attacked the militia supposedly responsible for his death, while youngsters armed with machine guns closed roads in the area. According to Interior Ministry Undersecretary Omar El Khadrawi, the dead man had been killed — “unlawfully” he said — by a support unit linked to the SSC commanded by Abdel-Raouf Karrah based at Mitiga airbase. He did not name the unit but Karrah is head of the Nawasi brigade, widely viewed in Tripoli as Islamist. Possibly because there was no response from the police, army or SSC at the time, the lawlessness quickly spread, resulting in the deaths of at least two more people. — Libya Herald
