TRIPOLI:Libya’s General National Congress has temporarily suspended its sessions due to security concerns after a violent protest that left its members barricaded in a meeting room for several hours and a gun attack on its leader’s car.
The congress had been due to hold a session yesterday but congress leader Mohammed Magarief said that meeting as well as tomorrow’s would be cancelled. He said the lack of a secure meeting hall was also one of the reasons for the suspension.
“We will not meet under pressure or while being threatened,” Magarief told a news conference. Gunmen in a crowd of Libyans demanding that lawmakers pass a bill barring former associates of ousted dictator Muammar Gaddafi from power shot at Magarief’s car last Tuesday.
Magarief was driving away from a building on the outskirts of the capital Tripoli where lawmakers had gathered to vote on the bill when the unknown assailants shot at his car.
Reuters
