Video of young refugees in a detention centre in Libya show them being shot at indiscriminately by the militias advancing on Tripoli
6892 Mins Read
Young refugees held in a detention centre in Libya have described being shot at indiscriminately by militias advancing on Tripoli, in an attack that reportedly left at least two people dead and up to 20 injured.
The Guardian released phone footage smuggled out of the camp and passed to the newspaper highlights the deepening humanitarian crisis in the centres set up to prevent refugees and migrants from making the sea crossing from the north African coast to Europe.
The footage shows people cowering in terror in the corners of a hangar while gunshots can be heard and others who appear to have been wounded lying on makeshift stretchers.
The shooting on Tuesday at the Qasr bin Ghashir detention centre, 12 miles (20km) south of Tripoli, is thought to be the first time a militia has raided such a building and opened fire.
Witnesses said men, women and children were praying together when soldiers they believe to be part of the forces of the military strongman Khalifa Haftar, which are advancing on the Libyan capital to try to bring down the UN-backed government, stormed into the detention centre and demanded people hand over their phones.
When the occupants refused, the soldiers began shooting, according to the accounts. Phones are the only link to the outside world for many in the detention centres.
On Tuesday, the IOM said that migrants in a detention facility in the Libyan capital Tripoli have reportedly been seriously wounded in a random shooting, the UN migration agency IOM said on Tuesday.
IOM gave no more details of the incident which it said took place in a facility in Qasr Ben Ghashir, a southern suburb fought over by forces loyal to Libya’s rival governments.
IOM has been moving some migrants out of detention centres in Tripoli, which forces loyal to eastern commander Khalifa Haftar have been trying to take in a three-week offensive.
But more than 3,000 migrants are still in detention centres there, among them women and children, IOM said in a tweet.
Amnesty International has called for a war crimes investigation into the incident. “This incident demonstrates the urgent need for all refugees and migrants to be immediately released from these horrific detention centres,” said the organisation’s spokeswoman, Magdalena Mughrabi.
The UN refugee agency, UNHCR, said it evacuated 325 people from the detention centre after the incident. A statement suggested guns were fired into air and 12 people “endured physical attacks” that required hospital treatment, but none sustained bullet wounds.
