Thousands of protesters gather in Libyan capital

RAS AJDIR, Tunisia – Chaos gripped the Libyan capital and its environs Friday as the central government’s authority continued to crumble in the western half of a nation already split in two.

Thousands poured into the streets of Tripoli after Friday prayers in defiance of strongman Moammar Gadhafi, who has vowed to fight his opponents until the very end. They braved the bullets of militiamen loyal to Gadhafi who reportedly opened fire on demonstrators.

The Al Jazeera television network cited sources as saying dozens of people were killed in the protests, though Libyan state television denied that.

One witness reached by telephone in Tripoli said people marched from mosques to Green Square in the heart of the capital, with the support of at least some members of the security forces.

Demonstrations unfolded in several Tripoli neighborhoods. Pro-regime gunmen on pickup trucks fired automatic weapons outside a crowded mosque after Friday afternoon prayers in one Tripoli district, a resident said by telephone.

“They came and shot in the air to make sure everyone went home,” said the resident, who declined to be identified. “They didn’t shoot anybody. They tried to scare us. But we were very angry because they were shooting near the mosque.”

Residents of Tripoli and those fleeing the capital for Tunisia said that prices for drinking water and gasoline had tripled, businesses and shops had been shuttered and that procuring basic supplies had become a challenge. Many people inclined to demonstrate Friday instead stayed huddled in their home.

“People are not allowed to gather, or people will shoot them,” said a 33-year-old resident of the Andalous district of Tripoli reached by telephone. “All the shops are closed. People are not going to work. People are horrified.”

The cost of the uprising has been high. More than 600 people have died, according to independent human rights organizations. The unrest has driven up global energy prices and frozen the Libyan economy.

But there was no sign Gadhafi was ready to buckle. As dusk settled, Gadhafi appeared on television addressing a crowd at Green Square. His remarks, laced with threatening, apocalyptic imagery, were described as a live speech.

“If needed, the arsenals will be open to arm all the Libyan people, all the Libyan tribes,” he said. “Libya will be red with fire; it will turn into ashes.”

And he urged Libyans to celebrate. “Dance, sing and stay up,” he said. “Dance, sing and celebrate.”

Foreign media have been all but barred from traveling to Libya, although many journalists have traveled without authorization into eastern Libya, now under the control of the opposition. A few select correspondents were flown in to Tripoli on Friday as guests of Gadhafi’s son, Seif al-Islam, who acknowledged that some key population centers had fallen to the opposition.

“We are dealing with terrorists,” Reuters quoted him as saying. “The army decided not to attack to give the terrorists a chance to negotiate.”