loading…
Hundreds of flood victims in Libya vented their anger against the authorities and demanded accountability by burning down the house of the mayor of Derna. Photo/Independent
TRIPOLI – Protests broke out in the city of Derna, Libya, on Monday, one week after floods killed thousands of residents and devastated the entire region. Hundreds of people vented their anger against the authorities and demanded accountability.
In the afternoon, angry protesters set fire to the Derna mayor’s house as flooding occurred, Abdulmenam al-Ghaithi, his office manager, told Reuters.
Hichem Abu Chkiouat, a minister in the eastern Libyan government, said Ghaithi had been dismissed from his post. Reuters news agency could not immediately contact Ghaithi for comment.
Monday’s protests marked the first major demonstrations since the floods, which hit Derna when two dams in the hills outside the town broke during a powerful storm, creating a powerful torrent of water.
Protesters also targeted officials, including the speaker of Libya’s eastern-based parliament, Aguila Saleh, during demonstrations outside the Sahaba mosque. Some sit on the roof in front of its golden dome, which is a Derna landmark.
The government in eastern Libya said Prime Minister Usama Hamad had fired all members of the Derna city council and referred them for investigation.
“Aguila, we don’t want you. “All Libyans are brothers,” shouted the protesters, calling for national unity in a country politically divided by more than a decade of conflict and chaos as quoted by The Guardian, Wednesday (20/9/2023).
Mansour, a student who took part in the protest, said he wanted an immediate investigation into the dam collapse, which “made us lose thousands of our loved ones”.
Another protester, Taha Miftah, said the demonstration was a message that “the government has failed to manage this crisis”, adding that parliament was most to blame.
