LIBYANS who live and work in Cyprus gathered yesterday outside the Libyan Embassy in Nicosia to take down the green flag which is associated with Muammar Gaddafi’s regime and replace it with the tricolour flag of the National Transitional Council.
A group of Libyans arrived at the Embassy at Nicosia’s Eleftheria Square around noon and the Libyan Ambassador Mustafa Al Mgherby agreed to meet them. The Libyan delegation reminded the ambassador that Cyprus was part of the European Union, and that the EU had already condemned Gaddafi’s regime.
The ambassador accepted the request of the Libyans to take down the green flag. Around 12.50pm, the flag of the rebels that was also used in the pre-Gaddafi era was raised and the Libyan families celebrated what they said was the “end of Gaddafi’s oppression”.
Children wearing the tricolour flag celebrated singing “Libya, Libya, Libya”, the national anthem of the Kingdom of Libya that was adopted between 1951 and 1969 following Libya’s declaration of Independence. Several Libyans were recording the replacement of the flag on their phones or cameras.
A young girl wrote with blue spray outside the embassy an Arabic phrase which, as she explained, means “Free Libya”.
“We will fight till the end,” young Ahmed Hwedi and his sister told the Cyprus Mail. Ahmed was waving the tricolour flag in excitement and said that through this small protest outside the Libyan Embassy, the Libyans of Cyprus express their support for their relatives back in Libya. He added that they hope to make all those Libyans fighting for justice proud.
“My family has been in Cyprus the last six years, and this is a very special day for all of us,” said Ahmed Ageil who was stepping on the green flag of Gaddafi’s regime.
After the green flag was taken down, portraits of Gaddafi were also thrown out of the embassy and a Syrian friend of a Libyan family said that they were probably going to burn them.
“Allahu Akbar”, which means God is the Greatest, was the slogan that the Libyans were shouting yesterday.. Allahu Akbar is the title of an Egyptian marching song that was adopted by Gaddafi as the official anthem of Libya in 1969.
“Allahu Akbar means God is the greatest. Gaddafi thought himself to be the greatest, but Allah is the greatest as a traditional song says,” explained Seham Alosta, a Libyan woman whose husband works in Cyprus.
“My uncle was killed five days ago. He was standing outside his house in Libya, when he was shot by Gaddafi’s militia. He has a pregnant wife and his two other children witnessed the murder of their father,” Seham Alosta said, adding that she is still worried about the rest of her relatives back in Libya and hopes that Gaddafi will soon surrender.
When asked about the flags, Seham explained that the tricolour flag adopted by the National Transitional Council is an important symbol for Libyans, as it was first used when Libya gained its independence from Italy.
The top horizontal line of the tricolour flag is red and it symbolises the blood of the Libyan people who died under Italian fascist rule. A crescent-and-star design which is a symbol of Islam is found on the black middle line, while the green line represents an era of independence, freedom and a new start for the Libyan people.
The flag of the Kingdom of Libya became a symbol of opposition and various makeshift versions of this flag were used during the Libyan civil war, throughout 2011.
