Libyan protesters storm television, radio

Cairo, Feb 21 (AFP) Protesters in the Libyan capitalTripoli sacked state broadcast offices and set branches of thePeople''s Committees that are the mainstay of the regime ablazeovernight, witnesses said today.

"The headquarters of Al-Jamahiriya Two television andAl-Shababia radio have been sacked," one witness told AFP bytelephone on condition of anonymity.

Broadcasts on both channels were interrupted yesterdayevening but resumed this morning.

A number of witnesses said protesters had torched publicbuildings in the capital overnight, not only People''sCommittee offices but also police stations.

The People''s Conference Centre in Tripoli''s residentialneighbourhood of Hay Al-Andalous -- which regularly hostspro-regime demonstrations and official meetings -- was alsoset alight, a resident who lives nearby told AFP.

Al-Jamahiriya 2, the second state television channel, andAl-Shababia were launched by Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi''sinfluential son Saif al-Islam in 2008 and later nationalisedwhen broadcasting was declared a state monopoly. (AFP)