By Libya Herald staff.
Tripoli, 5 December 2013:
A Tripoli garage was trashed and petrol stolen when the manager turned off the pumps . . .[restrict]after threats from among several hundreds of queuing motorists, desperate to buy fuel ahead of rumoured shortages.
Angry drivers smashed the windows of the fuel station in Zawia Street near Dahra, when the manager turned off the power and went home. One motorist told the Libya Herald that he had been queuing for four hours and was only three cars front the front of line when the row broke out.
“The manager was very angry at the way drivers were trying to force their way onto the forecourt. He demanded order or he would turn off the electricity. People yelled back, so he cut the power, locked up and left”.
Some individuals then forced open the lid of a fuel tank and started to steal fuel using buckets. Others attacked the garage while still others went off to find the manager to persuade him to return. At one point in the chaos on the forecourt, a police car stopped and asked for fuel to get to the airport. The angry crowd refused to help.
A number of motorists had run out of fuel during the hours that they had been queuing. Access to the petrol station was therefore made even more difficult by abandoned vehicles.
Though there have been lengthy queues at other petrol stations in the capital, there have been no reports of similar violence. [/restrict]
