Libyan minister resigns over crackdown on protesters

TRIPOLI - Libya’s justice minister resigned Monday protesting excessive use of violence against anti-government demonstrators, Xinhua said citing a local newspaper report.

Justice Minister Mustafa Mohamed Abud Al Jeleil confirmed that he stepped down, Libya’s Quryna newspaper said on its website.

Violence in Libya escalated Monday as thousands of anti-government protesters took to the streets in capital Tripoli.

Hospitals are struggling to cope with the numbers of casualties, with reports from medical officials suggesting the death toll has reached 200.

Earlier, Libya’s ambassador to India Ali al-Essawi resigned to protest his government’s crackdown on demonstrators, the BBC reported.

Besides, a senior Libyan diplomat in China resigned Monday and called on his country’s army to intervene in the political unrest, Al-Jazeera said. The diplomat, Hussein Sadiq al Musrati, resigned on air while talking to Al-Jazeera Arabic.

The channel quoted medical sources as saying that 61 people were killed in the latest protests in Tripoli Monday.

Protesters in Tripoli have ransacked the headquarters of state television overnight and set the offices of the People’s Committees that are the mainstay of the regime ablaze.

Inspired by uprisings that had swept Tunisia and Egypt and forced their leaders to step down, thousands of Libyans have started a string of protests against leader Muammar Gaddafi, in power for 41 years.