Crackdown in Libya leaves 100 dead

MORE than 100 people have died in an iron-fisted security crackdown in unrest-swept eastern Libya, Human Rights Watch said, fearing a “catastrophe” as protests spread closer to the capital.

Witnesses told AFP by telephone that security forces clashed with anti-regime demonstrators in the Mediterranean city of Misrata, 200 kilometres from Tripoli.

Demonstrators were out on the streets of Misrata in a show of support for residents of Benghazi who have endured the brunt of a violent crackdown in eastern Libya, they said.