Army deploys around Libya capital amid sieges

Libya's army took up positions Friday at strategic sites around the capital, where militias have besieged state institutions for the past week, an AFP journalist reported. Soldiers in pickup trucks mounted with machineguns and anti-aircraft weapons were also deployed on Martyrs Square in the heart of Tripoli where a demonstration against the militias is set to take place on Friday. "This measure is intended to secure the entrances of Tripoli, the state institutions and strategic facilities, such as the electric company or the banks," Major Hussein al-Faidi, head of the army's press centre, told AFP. "It's also aimed at reassuring the people," he added. Gunmen have surrounded the foreign ministry since Sunday and the justice ministry since Tuesday to demand the General National Congress adopt a bill that would purge former officials of the ousted regime of Moamer Kadhafi. The same groups, most of them former rebels who fought to oust Kadhafi in 2011, briefly occupied the finance ministry on Monday. Police stormed the interior ministry twice, on Sunday and Monday, to demand salary increases and promotions. The head of the Libyan national television network was also briefly besieged in his office by former rebels who protected outside the building. The authorities have indicated they will avoid a confrontation with armed groups, and called on people to mobilise to defend "the legitimacy of state institutions". Discussed repeatedly at the Congress, the law on political exclusion of Kadhafi-era officials has caused a stir in the political elite because it might exclude several senior officials.