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By Ahmed Elumami.
Tripoli, 18 June 2013:
Members of Derna Local Council have gone on strke in protest at the assassination of . . .[restrict]a local prominent judge on Sunday and at what they say is the government’s dereliction of its duties towards the town.
“Derna’s 23 local council members have suspended their memership because of assassination of Judge Najib Mohamed Huwaidi and of government neglect of Derna,” the deputy leader of Derna Local Council, Omar Abu Khatwa, has told the Libya Herald.
The government had so far taken no action in response to the assassination of the judge, Abu Khatwa stated. Furthermore, no funding had been provided to the council by the government from January 2012 until June 2013. This, he said, caused problems and sparked anger among ordinary people in Derna.
“If the government does not react, the members of council will resign,” Abu Khatwa insisted.
Resentment is focusing on the Prime Minister. According to Derna Congressman Mansour Al-Hassadi (J&C), he and other Derna Congress members have asked the Congress to assess Zeidan’s performance as Prime Minister.
“I personally asked Congress to withdraw its confidence in Prime Minister Ali Zeidan because he has been unable to do anything to ensure stability in Libyan towns,” the Congressman said.
No state institution was working Derna except the schools and the banks, he stated.
In the town itself, which has earned itself a reputation of being under the control of militias, notably the Islamist Ansar Al-Sharia, dozens of local residents demonstrated in front of the town’s courthouse demanding the government take action to ensure that security is in the hands of the police and army and no one else. They called for civil disobedience if there were no quick response from the authorities.
On Sunday, there were also protests in the town at Huwaidi’s murder. [/restrict]
