#Libya Protesters Control Zawiyah, Brace for Onslaught by Pro-Gaddafi Force

as the city is now surrounded by the tanks of pro-Gaddafi forces.

From Al Jazeera (2/27/2011):

Forces loyal to the Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi have surrounded the city of Zawiyah, where anti-government protesters are bracing for an attack.

Men opposed to Gaddafi were patrolling the streets of the city 50km from the capital on Sunday, saying they had seized weapons and even tanks which they would use to defend themselves.

Ezeldina, a Zawiyah resident, told Al Jazeera that people in the city had raided some military camps.

"We are expecting an attack at any moment," he said. "We are forming rotating watchgroups, guarding the neighbourhood."

Police stations and government offices inside the city have been torched and anti-Gaddafi graffiti painted of walls.

Hundreds of protesters in the city centre chanted "Gaddafi Out". Some stood on top of a captured tank, while others crowded around an anti-aircraft gun. Women stood on top of buildings cheering on the men in the crowd below.

An effigy of Gaddafi hung from a light pole in the main square.

A group of foreign journalists were driven to Zawiyah by Libyan authorities on Sunday to show that forces loyal to Gaddafi still held the town. But once there, it was evident that the protesters were in control.

A doctor at a makeshift clinic in the town mosque said 24 people had been killed in fighting with government loyalists over the past three days, and a small park next to the main square had been turned into a burial ground.

Residents gave accounts of fierce fighting for control of the town against pro-Gaddafi paramilitaries who were
armed with heavy weapons. Some said they were using rocket-propelled grenades.

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