Thursday, March 3, 2011

Human Rights Watch Live Updates


(Brega, Libya, March 2, 2011) - Peter Bouckaert, emergencies director

".....After several hours of intense gun exchanges, rebel reinforcements came in from Ejdabiya and even Benghazi, arriving with heavier weapons such as anti-aircraft guns and artillery batteries. Rebels eventually gained the upper hand and pro-Qaddafi forces abandoned their positions, leaving Brega again solidly in rebel hands.

After inspecting the damage at the university and collecting evidence of the kinds of weapons pro-Qaddafi forces were using, we stopped to observe a celebration by several hundred civilians and armed rebels in the roundabout in front of the university. Protesters were tearing down a large billboard of Qaddafi, and I was talking to the CNN crew at the scene, when a fighter jet suddenly swooped low and fired a missile which landed ten meters away from us and the rest of the crowd. The large explosion that shattered the windshield of our parked car. Everyone ran away in terror, afraid the plane would return for a second bombing raid....."

No comments: