Libya's longtime leader Col. Moammar Gadhafi vowed Tuesday on state television he would die a martyr on Libyan soil rather than flee his country.
Speaking from what appeared to be a bombed-out concrete bunker but was reportedly the front hall of his home, which was attacked by U.S. airstrikes in the 1980s and never repaired, Ghadafi gave a furious, defiant speech during which he repeatedly shook his fist in the air to emphasize his points.
"It's not possible that I leave this place, I will be a martyr at the end," Gadhafi said, through a translator.
Gadhafi, wearing brown robes and a turban, also called on his supporters to reclaim the streets from protesters, whom he described as youths who had been plied with drugs and money by a "small, sick group."
"You men and women who love Gadhafi ... get out of your homes and fill the streets," he said. "Leave your homes and attack them in their lairs."
"The police cordons will be lifted, go out and fight them, for the defence of the revolution and the defence of Gadhafi."
Earlier reports suggested Gadhafi had fled the country but he refuted those reports in televised addresses Monday and Tuesday, claiming he was still in Libya.
Gadhafi also insisted Tuesday that he cannot heed calls to step down because he technically has no official title, and denied ordering police to fire on protesters.
"I haven't ordered a single bullet fired," he said, warning that if he does, "everything will burn."
He vowed that should protests continue, he would organize a "holy march" of his supporters to rid Libya of its anti-Gadhafi elements.
Meanwhile, residents of Libya's capital city Tripoli reported that they were staying inside Tuesday, amid threats that they would be shot if they ventured onto the streets, just like the anti-government protesters who were slain by gunmen the day before.
Scores of dead bodies lay in the streets of Tripoli Tuesday, as pro-Gadhafi gunmen remained ready to shoot anyone seen outside, according to residents who spoke to The Associated Press.
Edward Shebani, a Canadian businessman, told CTV News Channel he was hiding out in a house in Tripoli, unable to leave the residence, let alone flee the country. Shebani said armed groups of men were firing indiscriminately at anyone on the street.
"Right now where we're at is safe but we can't leave the house and go out on the street. All the stores are closed, there's no food supply. The food supply we do have is good for another four days, and that's where we're at," he said.
Shebani said the Canadian consulate advised him to fly out of the country from Tripoli's airport, but flights were cancelled and he was unable to get to the airport due to the danger on the street.
Many of the slain anti-government protesters were killed Monday in the district of Fashloum, an impoverished area within the capital city.
One resident told The Associated Press that the gunmen warned him that they had been given orders to shoot anyone who moves.
"Bodies are now in the streets; those injured and now bleeding can't find a hospital or ambulance to rescue them. Nobody is allowed to get in and if anybody gets in, will be shot to death," the resident said.
CTV Middle East Bureau Chief Martin Seemungal said the latest violence has alienated Libyan soldiers and diplomats alike, leaving Gadhafi with fewer people to rely upon as he tries to stop the uprising against his regime.
"The point now is that there are a lot of angry military people within Libya, so it's not just the diplomats who are fed up with Moammar Gadhafi, it's the military," Seemungal told CTV's Canada AM from Jerusalem on Tuesday.
"More and more elements seem to be turning over towards the opposition. They are just outraged that other elements of the army have been shooting at civilians with live ammunition -- we are hearing reports of aircraft dropping bombs, helicopters firing from the air at these protesters -- so all these things are adding up and only adding to the rage against Moammar Gadhafi."
No confirmation on death tolls
The protester death totals have not been independently confirmed by Western media. New York-based Human Rights Watch estimates that 62 people have been killed in Tripoli since Sunday, on top of the 233 dead the agency previously announced. However, the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights has reported that at least 250 people have been killed in recent days. Hundreds of others have been injured.
Navi Pillay, the head of the UN human rights agency, called for an investigation Tuesday, saying that the attacks on civilians "may amount to crimes against humanity."
World leaders have swiftly condemned the extreme violence used by Gadhafi's regime to quell the unrest inside Libya.
British Prime Minister David Cameron said the Gadhafi regime "is using the most vicious forms of repression against people who want to see that country -- which is one of the most closed and one of the most autocratic -- make progress."
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton also called on the Libyan leader to "stop this unacceptable bloodshed." She said the world was watching the unfolding events "with alarm."
The protests have also spurred a number of international oil companies with operations in Libya, one of Europe's major oil suppliers, to remove their workers or their families from the country. Spanish oil company Repsol-YPF announced Tuesday it has suspended production in Libya. The company accounts for about 3.8 per cent of Libya's daily output of 1.6 million barrels.
Three Canadians were among two dozen Suncor employees who were forced to flee the drill rig they work on late Monday because it had been attacked by a group of armed men. Suncor officials said the men made it safely to another oil rig in the desert, and efforts were being made to get them out of Libya.
Diplomats break from Gadhafi
A number of Gadhafi's top diplomatic representatives have turned against him in the midst of the violence being perpetrated against protesters.
Ibrahim Dabbashi, the country's deputy ambassador to the United Nations, has pleaded with Gadhafi to step down from power, warning that if he doesn't "the Libyan people will get rid of him."
He said that Gadhafi deserved to face justice for the ongoing crackdown against the protesters and for "all the other crimes he has committed during the 42 years in power."
Libya's ambassador to the United States also called for Gadhafi to step down, and the ambassadors to India and Bangladesh stepped down from their jobs. The country's ambassador to Indonesia has also reportedly resigned his post in protest of what the regime is doing to the Libyan people.
Ali Aujali, the Libyan ambassador to the U.S., said there is "no other solution" than for Gadhafi to leave.
"He should step down and give the chance for the people to make their future," Aujali told The Associated Press in an interview.
The UN Security Council held an emergency meeting on the situation in Libya Tuesday afternoon, later issuing a statement condemning Gadhafi's violent crackdown on protesters and calling for those responsible for the attacks against civilians to be held accountable for their actions.
In a statement released to the press Tuesday evening, the 15 council members expressed "grave concern" at the situation and called for an "immediate end to the violence." They also said Gadhafi must take steps to address the Libyan people's demands.
Protesters control eastern cities
While Tripoli continues to be a bloody battleground, protesters in the east are celebrating as they claim to have taken control of a number of cities along several hundred kilometres of Libya's Mediterranean coast and into the interior.
Tawfiq al-Shahbi, a protest organizer in the eastern city of Tobruk, said protesters were raising the pre-Gadhafi Libyan flag on public buildings in Tobruk and Benghazi, the country's second largest city and a focal point of the protests.
Protesters have also reportedly taken control of Ajdabiya, an important city in the middle of Libya's oil fields. Local residents are working together to guard facilities there, as well as local streets and roadways.
But in Benghazi, as in Tripoli, local residents still feared reprisals from pro-Gadhafi militias. While residents took control of police stations and the local security headquarters, as well as the streets, a local doctor said they remained in their homes Tuesday night.
"We know that although we are in control of the city, Gadhafi loyalists are still here hiding and they can do anything anytime," he said.
With files from The Associated Press
