Protest outside BBC against Libyan Abu Salim prison massacre
Demonstration outside BBC
On Saturday, 15th May, 2010, protesters gathered outside BBC on Oxford Road, Manchester as part of the British Libyan Solidarity Campaign demonstration for justice for the families of the victims of abu salim prison masacre in June, 1996.
In Abu Salim prison, in Libya, on 28th and 29th June 1996: “1,200 detainees were believed to have been extra-judicially executed”[1], according to a recent report by Amnesty Internationl. Libyan authorities “have not revealed the truth”, it goes on. Although Gaddafi acknowledged some eight years later that “killings took place”, no perpretators have been brought to justice.
Familes continue to stage demonstrations calling for “justice, peace and adequate reparation”.
In a recent development on 17th April, 2010, Libyan police failed to intervene when one such demonstration was allegedly attacked by counter demonstrator Mouftah Badri, resulting in the hospitalization of some of the demonstrators. Amnesty International are calling on “the Libyan authorities to ensure that a full, independent, and impartial investigation is conducted into the incident of 17 April 2010, including into allegations of the failure of the security forces to intervene”.
Poster exhibition
The protestors chose the BBC as their location because they belive that as Britain’s public broadcaster the BBC is under a duty to keep the public informed of the facts concerning crimes of foreign regimes with which the British government may be colluding in trade and political support. The demonstrators are demanding that the BBC give more coverage to Libyan human rights abuses in general and to the Abu Salim masacre in particular, rather than burying the bad news in what minimal coverage it provides.
They handed out leaflets containing information about the latest incident in bengazi. Community activist Azeldin el Sharif made a public reading of the Amnesty International report on recent incident in Libya. Posters contributed by Abdu el Libi and alsatur and Mohammed Makhluf showing the reality of the Libyan regime were exhibited on the wall of the BBC.
Campaigners met with a good response from the public. People came up and asked questions and took leaflets and copies of the report.
For more pictures of the event click here.
1. Amnesty International, “Libya: Recent incident highlights need for investigations into the Abu Salim Prison killings”, 30/4/2010, available online at: http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/asset/MDE19/006/2010/en/4d90ca80-57fc-47a1-8849-5c1ca5f857c4/mde190062010en.html
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