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Police Fire Tear Gas On Demonstration Against Lockerbie Verdict
TRIPOLI, Feb 6 (News Agencies) - Police fired tear gas to disperse demonstrators who tried to break into U.N. offices in Tripoli on Tuesday in a protest against last week's verdict in the Lockerbie bombing trial.
Several thousand protesters, chanting anti-U.S. slogans, marched to the British embassy and then to U.N. offices, which they tried to enter before being dispersed by police firing tear gas.
Libyan television showed police hitting and pushing protesters, and an ambulance was seen leaving the area of the clashes. There were no immediate reports of arrests.
Libyan leader Moamer Qaddafi had Monday said a special Scottish court in the Netherlands had wrongfully convicted Libyan security official Abdel Basset Ali al-Megrahi for the Lockerbie bombing after pressure exerted from U.S. and British intelligence services.
Proclaiming Al-Megrahi's innocence, Qaddafi said: "We thus consider him abducted and taken hostage to terrorize the Libyan people and to blackmail them even more."
Libyan television on Tuesday said police guarded embassies and the offices of international organizations from the protesters, who were shouting, "We reject the political verdict" and "U.N. legislation is the legislation of humiliation."
Burning U.S. flags and carrying mock coffins on their shoulders, the demonstrators chanted, "U.S. civilization means killing children."
In London, the Foreign Office issued a statement saying: "We can confirm there was a demonstration outside the British embassy. At no time was the security of the embassy threatened."
Libya says 37 people, including Qaddafi's adopted daughter, were killed in a 1986 U.S. bombing raid on Tripoli, carried out in response to alleged Libyan involvement in the bombing of a German disco frequented by U.S. servicemen. It was later found that Libya played no role in the bombing.
Qaddafi said in his two-hour speech Monday that Libya would not pay compensation to the families of the 270 victims of the 1988 Pan Am bombing unless Washington paid for "all the victims of the United States, from Vietnam to Tripoli."
The United States and Britain demand the payment of damages before lifting the full U.N. embargo on Libya.
Libyans also demonstrated Tuesday at the embassy of Saudi Arabia, calling on it to "respect its promises" to suspend the sanctions.
Riyadh and former South African president Nelson Mandela negotiated with Libya to set up the special trial for the two Libyans, one of whom was acquitted.
The U.S. and British opposition to the lifting of sanctions drew sharp criticism from Mandela last Thursday. "That is moving the goalposts," he said.
He said both states had agreed to lift the sanctions - slapped on Libya for refusing to hand over the two bombing suspects for trial - once Qaddafi finally capitulated two years ago, and not just to suspend the measures.
"We expect the West to lead in moral responsibility and not shift the goalposts. Once agreements are not honored, you are introducing chaos in international affairs," Mandela said.
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