Libya security 'at any price'

One of the sons of Libya's leader Muammar Gaddafi has said the army will enforce security at any price as unrest has spread to the capital Tripoli.

Saif al-Islam has appeared on state TV and backed his father in the first official reaction from authorities as protests continue.

He appealed to his countrymen to pull back from civil war: "Libya is not Egypt. It consists of tribes and clans. It's not societies with parties and so on. It's parties and clans. Everyone knows their duties. This could cause civil war and we will repeat the civil war of 1936."

Speaking on Sunday after a bloody few days in Tripoli and Benzhagi, Gaddafi said he was interested in helping to "create a new Libya".

He said: "We can save the bloodshed and that will be the biggest historic achievement when we move from the first regime to the second regime. Forget about the first regime and then we start a new system that we will agree on. Tomorrow we will create a new Libya, the Libya of tomorrow that we all agree on."

Police have been using tear gas to disperse demonstrators in Tripoli, where gunfire has been heard and vehicles have been set on fire.

In a telephone interview, a resident in the capital said he could hear gunshots. "We're inside the house and the lights are out. There are gunshots in the street," he said. "That's what I hear, gunshots and people. I can't go outside."

Al Jazeera television said thousands of protesters clashed with supporters of Gaddafi in Tripoli's Green Square.

The violence spread to Tripoli after days of protests in Benghazi, Libya's second largest city, in which at least 233 people have been killed, according to Human Rights Watch.

Communications are tightly controlled and Benghazi is not accessible to international journalists, but the picture that has emerged is of a city slipping from the grasp of security forces in the biggest challenge to Gaddafi's rule since the "brotherly leader" seized power in a 1969 military coup.

Revolutions which have deposed the presidents of Tunisia and Egypt have shaken the Arab world and inspired protests across the Middle East and North Africa.

In the Gulf kingdom of Bahrain , thousands of protesters gathered in a square in Manama, calling for political change and awaiting promised talks with the island's Sunni rulers.