By PAUL SCHEMM and BASSEM MROUE
Associated Press
BENGHAZI, Libya – Protesters demanding Moammar Gadhafi’s ouster came under a hail of bullets Friday when pro-regime militiamen opened fire to stop the first significant anti-government marches in days in the Libyan capital. The Libyan leader, speaking from the ramparts of a historic Tripoli fort, told supporters to prepare to defend the nation.
Witnesses reported multiple deaths from gunmen on rooftops and in the streets shooting automatic weapons and even an anti-aircraft gun at crowds.
“In the first wave of fire, seven people within 10 meters (yards) of me were killed. Many people were shot in the head,” one man who marching from Tripoli’s eastern Tajoura district, told The Associated Press. “It was really like we are dogs.”