35 killed in east Libya protests

Citing hospital sources, the Human Rights Watch said the killings took to 84 its estimate for the total death toll after three days of protests which were inspired by uprisings in the Middle East.

The deaths in the city followed attacks by the security forces who opened fire on people protesting after funeral processions for people killed in earlier violence. However, there has been no official word on the number of dead.

"There are still a large number of protesters standing in front of Benghazi court. They have decided they are not going to move," a Benghazi resident told news media.

The unrest has been centred in an around the city of Benghazi. Restrictions on media have made it difficult to establish the full extent of the violence.

"Special forces who have a very strong allegiance to Gaddafi are still fighting desperately gain to control, to gain ground and the people are fighting them street by street," another resident said.

Residents in Benghazi reported there was no electricity in parts of the city and that tanks were stationed outside the court building.

While the level of unrest has not previously been seen before in Libya, it said that the situation is different from Egypt, because Gaddafi has oil cash to smooth over social problems. Gaddafi is also still respected in much of the country.

Foreign journalists have not been allowed to enter Libya since the unrest began, local reporters have been barred from travelling to Benghazi and mobile phone connections to towns in the east of the country have frequently been out of service.

Al Jazeera said its news channel based in Qatar was having its signal jammed on several frequencies and its website had been blocked in Libya.