Bahrain Government Opens Fire On Its Own Citizens!

Thank you for answering.

 

Hooray! At least in Libya, the populace is arming themselves. Here's an excerpt from a news article on the revolt in Libya:

In Zawiya, 30 miles (50 kilometers) west of Tripoli, an army unit attacked the city's Souq Mosque, where regime opponents had been camped for days in a protest calling for Gadhafi's ouster, a witness said. The soldiers opened fire with automatic weapons and hit the mosque's minaret with fire from an anti-aircraft gun, he said. Some of the young men among the protesters, who were inside the mosque and in a nearby lot, had hunting rifles for protection. In cities across the east, residents rose up and overwhelmed government buildings and army bases, joined in many cases by local army units that defected. In those cities, tribal leaders, residents and military officers have formed local administrations, passing out weapons looted from the security forces' arsenals.

They Libyan revolutionaries may be facing overwhelming odds, but at least they're not going to stand idly by while their government tries to slaughter them like animals.

 

Food for thought----

Helicopters from Italy, firearms from Malta and communication technology from Germany: When the arms embargo against Libya was lifted in 2004, the country's dictator Moammar Gadhafi went on a shopping spree in the European Union. Now he is using those weapons against his own people -- to the EU's shame.

The 27 states of the European Union have stopped all arms exports to Libya as the violence continues amid a popular uprising in the North African country. A spokeswoman for Catherine Ashton, the EU's high representative for foreign affairs, said she had received information that "all trade of arms, licensing (with Libya) is suspended by all (EU) countries concerned."


The fact that the British politician seems more like a bystander than a decision-maker is down to the fact that arms exports in the EU are the responsibility of individual countries. Indeed, Libyan ruler Moammar Gadhafi was easily able to stock up after the 18-year arms embargo on his country ended in 2004. According to an EU report, European Union member states provided the dictator with defense equipment worth €344 million ($474 million) in 2009 alone.

But European leaders may be regretting having granted the export permits, now that Gadhafi is using those weapons against his rebellious population. For example, Italy has repeatedly supplied helicopters and other aircraft to the North African country; in 2009, those exports came to just under €108 million. Now Libyan refugees have reported being fired on by helicopters.


Questions have also been asked about other countries which have approved large-scale exports. Security forces might have used firearms which were possibly delivered via Malta against demonstrators. The small island state supplied small-caliber and automatic weapons worth nearly €80 million to Libya in 2009. According to the Maltese Foreign Ministry, however, the arms in question were Italian products that were merely transported via a port in Malta. "We do not have any weapons factories on Malta," said a ministry spokesman.

 

LoL I bet there are some people litterly having kittens over these revelations (Yep I include my own Goverment even though we did block a shipment of AK's in 2008) our PM Mr Cameron has just visited a International Defense Exhibition (IDEX) in Abu Dhabi accompanied by eight leading British arms industry executives. (Oops how embarassing LOL)

 

The only mistake we made was not selling helicopters, tanks, guns, and bullets to the general population of Libya. Then they would have peace for sure.

 

Hallelujah! You might just have a bit of brains after all!

[An] envoy from Gadhafi had come to the city from Tripoli and warned the protesters: "Either leave or you will see a massacre," the witness said. On Tuesday night, Gadhafi himself called on his supporters to hunt down opponents in their homes.

I don't know if helicopters and tanks would do the protesters any good inside their homes. But, the guns and bullets certainly would. Thank you for mentioning that.

 

When both sides are armed we tend to get 10-year civil wars in african countries. But at least somebody makes a pile of money on the deal.