be implementing his son's warning that if the Libyans don't just abandon their protests and accept his rule again he would give them a bloodbath. Will the world accept such behaviour from a government towards its people?".

The mood in Tripoli and its residential suburbs was tense and chaotic, according to accounts from residents. Some described locals barricading themselves into neighbourhoods or staying inside, afraid of foreign mercenaries paid by Gaddafi to shoot to kill. Since Sunday, some police stations had been set alight, the building where the General People's Congress, or parliament, meets was on fire on Monday morning, agencies reported.

"We can't trust anyone, there are armed mercenaries around us, ready to shoot us for no reason," one family told French radio. Some Tunisians who had fled thecity described a nightmare atmosphere in Tripoli where shots were heard through Sunday night and again on Monday afternoon and people wouldn't leave their home for fear of clashes between pro-Gaddafi crowds and demonstrators.

Ali Zeidan, a senior member of the Libyan League of Human Rights who is in Munich, pieced together the pattern of violence in the Libyan capital that began early on Monday. "Protesters gathered for very big street demonstrations. Then at 3am, forces came without any warning and started shooting live ammunition into the crowd. Some of the demonstrators ran, others fell. There were about 60 killed and around 130 injured. It wasn't the police, it wasn't the army, it was Gaddafi's elite guard assisted by paid foreign African fighters," he told the Guardian.

"Then this morning