Armed Pro-Qaddafi Gangs Roll in Libyan Capital

The embattled Libyan regime passed out guns to civilian supporters, set up checkpoints Saturday and sent armed patrols roving the terrorized capital to try to maintain control of Muammar al-Qaddafi's stronghold and quash dissent as rebels consolidate control elsewhere in the North African nation.

Residents of its eastern Tajoura district spread concrete blocks, large rocks and even chopped-down palm trees as makeshift barricades to prevent the SUVs filled with young men wielding automatic weapons from entering their neighborhood -- a hotspot of previous protests.

With tensions running high in Tripoli, scores of people in the neighborhood turned out at a funeral for a 44-year-old man killed in clashes with pro-regime forces. Anwar Algadi was killed Friday, with the cause of death listed as "a live bullet to the head," according to his brother, Mohammed.
Armed men in green armbands, along with uniformed security forces check those trying to enter the district, where graffiti that says "Qaddafi, you Jew," "Down to the dog," and "Tajoura is free" was scrawled on walls.

Qaddafi's son, Saif al-Islam told Arabiya TV in an interview that, "What the Libyan nation is going through has opened the door to all options, and now the signs of civil war and foreign interference have started." 

Outside the capital, rebels held a long swath of about half of Libya's 1,000-mile Mediterranean coastline where most of the population lives, and even captured a brigadier general and a soldier Saturday as the Libyan army tried to retake an air base east of Tripoli. The state-run news agency also said the opposition held an air defense commander and several other officers.