20110304
reuters

TRIPOLI (Reuters) - Shooting rang out across a district of the Libyan capital on Friday as forces loyal to Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi tried to break up a crowd of protesters shouting "Gaddafi is the enemy of God!"

The demonstrators spilled out of the Murat Adha mosque in the Tajoura district of eastern Tripoli after Friday prayers, and several hundred of them began chanting for an end to Gaddafi's forty years in power.

A few minutes later, pro-Gaddafi security forces in military fatigues and with green scarves around their heads arrived at the scene of the protest. "They fired tear gas. I heard shooting. People are scattering," said a Reuters reporter.

Another reporter on the edge of the Tajoura district said heavy shooting could be heard and a convoy of 14 Toyota sports utility vehicles, with security forces on board, sped through a checkpoint towards the site of the protest.

Tripoli is Gaddafi's principal stronghold after large swathes of the country rejected his rule, and the authorities have tried to portray it as a city going about its life as normal, but the protest punctured that image.

"This is the end for Gaddafi. It's over. Forty years of crimes are over," said Faragha Salim, an engineer at the protest in Tajoura.

Friday is the day of religious observance in the Muslim world when thousands of men assemble in the mosques to pray and listen to sermons. It can also be a flashpoint for outpourings of anger.

A revolt against Gaddafi's four-decade rule has left the eastern side of the country, and several towns elsewhere, in rebel control. He is facing international condemnation over the hundreds killed in a crackdown on the revolt.