'They burnt everything': Libyan security forces break up protest by migrants

Migrants had been demonstrating against poor treatment and were asking to be protected after clampdown in October

Sudanese migrants carrying their luggage stand in line at the Mitiga airport in the Libyan capital Tripoli, before flying back to their country voluntarily. AFP

Libyan security forces raided and violently broke up a sit-in protest by migrants outside a closed UN community centre in the capital of Tripoli, activists and migrants said on Monday.

The troops, which arrived at night, destroyed the protest site and arrested hundreds, said activist Tarik Lamloum. Those arrested were sent to a detention centre in the nearby town of Ain Zara while others managed to flee from the raid, he said.

Mr Lamloum, who works with the local Belaady Organisation for Human Rights, said at least one migrant community leader was shot during the raid.

The migrants, including women and children, had camped outside the centre in Tripoli since October, seeking protection after a major clampdown on migrants. They demanded protection and better treatment at the hands of Libyan authorities.

Aiysha, a Sudanese migrant, was part of the sit-in protest along with her family since October. The mother of two said police beat and detained migrants. She was among those detained.

“We were caught off guard,” she told Associated Press by phone from the detention centre in Ain Zara, giving only her first name amid fears for her safety. “They burnt the tents, burnt everything.”

The Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) and the International Rescue Committee said more than 600 migrants were detained in the raid.

'Disastrous situation has deteriorated'

“This is the culmination of a disastrous situation that has deteriorated” since the mass detention of migrants in October, said Dax Roque, the NRC’s Libya director.

Both groups urged Libyan authorities to immediately release those detained and protect them from further violence.

A government spokesman did not answer phone calls and messages seeking comment.

During the October clampdown, Libyan authorities rounded up more than 5,000 migrants, including hundreds of children and women – dozens of them pregnant, according to the UN.

Authorities said at the time that it was a security operation against illegal migration and drug trafficking.

The detained migrants were taken to overcrowded detention centres, prompting an outcry from the UN and human rights groups.