‘We want a free and independent Libya’

February 26, 2011
Issue 

About 200 people rallied in Brisbane's King George Square on February 25 to show solidarity with the people of Libya resisting the oppressive regime of Muammar Gaddafi. A banner proclaiming "Free Libya" was fixed to a wall, together with photos of victims of the Libyan military and police.

Placards carried by members of the Libyan community, many of them students, read "Stop using mercenaries to kill our people" and "Please help our country".

A representative of the Libyan community told the crowd: "We feel the heartbreaking magnitude of the Libyan struggle. It is your support which can help achieve human rights in Libya.

"The year 1911 marked the beginning of the anti-colonial struggle against the Italian empire, during which the dictator Mussolini was eventually defeated. Now, the Libyan people are rising up again.

"We don't want what happened in Iraq and Afghanistan to happen to our country. We don't want foreign invasion. We can overthrow our dictator ourselves.

"We don't want our oil resources taken from us by overseas multinationals. Libya for the Libyan people!"

The protesters then marched through city streets to Brisbane Square, chanting "Out Gaddafi now!" and "Libya, we will not leave you alone!"

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