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By Ashraf Abdul Wahab.
Tripoli, 21 February 2013:
Wounded revolutionaries who had been occupying the chamber of the General National Congress for the . . .[restrict]past two and a half weeks were today forcibly ejected following a resolution by Congress to remove them.
They and a handful of supporters, put at around 25 in all, then staged a protest outside before heading to the Prime Minister’s office and trying – unsuccessfully – to force their way in and see Ali Zeidan.
A group of war-wounded protestors forced their way into the chamber on 3 February while members of Congress were debating the 2013 budget. Having discussed their complaints with Congress leader Mohamed Magarief and others, and threatened one member with guns, some 16 refused to leave and stayed till today, forcing members to find temporary accommodation elsewhere in the Congress complex.
The wounded revolutionaries were ejected late this morning, Thursday. They and colleagues then staged a protest outside the building, setting tyres ablaze before heading to the Prime Minister’s office.
Officials there said that they managed to get into the reception area but no further. It is reported that Prime Minster Ali Zeidan dispatched the oil Minister Abdulbari Al-Arusi and Minister for the Injured Ramadan Zarmuh, both from Zawia, to talk to them. One of the protestors, also from Zawia, was then taken to the Prime Minister’s office but this, reportedly, enraged the others who claimed that he was getting special treatment because of connections. All were then forced out of the building by the police.
Speaking shortly afterwards at a press conference, Zeidan said that the government would meet the needs of wounded revolutionaries, in particular amputees, and would provide them with adequate housing, cars and cheap air travel.
Efforts by the Libya Herald to contact Congress spokesman Omar Hemaidan on the subject have not been successful.
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