Both events mentionned by Kadhafi have marked modern history and become symbols of revolt crushed by bloodshed.

TIANANMEN SQUARE, BEIJING: Hundreds, if not thousands, of people were killed in central Beijing on the night of June 3-4, 1989, when the military violently crushed six weeks of pro-democracy protests on Tiananmen Square.

The protests began April 15, 1989, led mainly by students and intellectuals.

The protests were sparked by the death of former general secretary of the Communist Party Hu Yaobang, a Party official known for tolerating dissent who had been fired in 1987, and whom protesters had wanted to mourn.

In the heat of the revolt demonstrators called for the resignation of the leader of China's Communist Party Deng Xiaoping.

On May 20, Prime Minister Li Peng established martial law. For more than 10 days Beijing citizens resisted by putting up barricades which blocked the road for the army.

On May 29, a "Goddess of Democracy" was erected in Tiananmen Square opposite a picture of the leader of the communist revolution Mao Zedong.

On the night of June 3-4, the People's Liberation Army, backed by tanks, opened fire on the crowd, killing nearly 300 according to official figures and at least 1,300 according to Amnesty International.

FALLUJAH, Iraq: In Fallujah, some 50 kilometres (31 miles) to the west of Baghdad, and a bastion of Sunni rebels hostile to US intervention, US forces carried out a bloody crackdown which lasted for almost all of 2004.

On November 12 of that year, the US military controlled most of the city, which for the rebels had become a symbol of resistance to foreign presence in Iraq after the March 31 murder in the city of four US security contractors working for the Blackwater firm which guarded top US administrator Paul Bremer.

US marines poured into Fallujah in April, meeting fierce resistance in some of the worst fighting since the end of the US-led invasion of Iraq in April 2003.

The marines finally retreated from their positions inside the city at the end of April after hundreds of Iraqis and dozens of Americans were killed in the clashes. They handed the city over to Iraqi forces.

US raids continued intermittently up to November 8, the day of a US-led assault on Fallujah, involving 10,000 US and 2,000 Iraqi troops.

According to humanitarian organisations between 4,000 and 6,000 Iraqi civilians and around 80 US soldiers were killed in the fighting.

earlier related report
Fear grips Libya's east despite lull: residents
Cairo (AFP) Feb 22, 2011 - Combat may have ceased in Benghazi, Libya's bloodiest frontline between armed forces and demonstrators, but the fear of more violence cast a chill over the city on Tuesday, residents told AFP.

"There have been no clashes in Benghazi since Monday evening," said a resident of the eastern coastal city who only gave his name as Osama.

In a telephone interview, Osama told AFP the security forces and demonstrators had brought down the barracks of the presidential guard, Katiba Fadil Buama, after two hours of fighting on Monday night.

Libya's second largest city and a stronghold of the opposition, Benghazi became the focal point of an anti-Kadhafi uprising launched on February 15, and has borne the brunt of a violent backlash by security forces.

Clashes on Sunday alone claimed the lives of 60 people, Human Rights Watch reported, citing hospital staff.

Osama, who introduced himself as a soldier, said he had been detained in the barracks before youths set him free on Friday.

The situation was highly volatile, he said, with the army realigning its loyalty in favour of the people each time a city falls to the anti-regime protesters.

Colleagues in Tripoli had told him they witnessed helicopters firing on army barracks in a bid to prevent soldiers from defecting and joining the demonstrators.

The shooting, which AFP was unable to confirm through other sources, reportedly killed 160 civilians in the barrack's vicinity.

Mayar, a resident of Al-Birkah, a neighbourhood in the southwest of Benghazi, said she was getting ready to join protests on Tuesday in support of Tripoli residents.

In a separate phone interview, Mayar said she fretted over the safety of her relatives stuck in Libya's capital, 1,000 kilometres (620 miles) away, as clashes had erupted there too.

"We are troubled by what's going on in Tripoli. My brothers and sisters are living through a nightmare over there. My husband was unable to leave the capital. Tripoli is in a state of siege.

"Kadhafi wants to exterminate the people. We are in a state of shock," she said, also requesting to keep her full identity off the record.

In Benghazi, she said she had witnessed "armed people assault ambulances and shoot at the crowd."

"I was at the Al-Jalaa hospital where the situation was catastrophic. A hundred funeral processions left the hospital on Sunday," she added.

Helicopters hovered over Benghazi and gunfire crackled in the streets into Monday night, according to Mayar.

Rumours that the city is soon to become the target of aerial bombardments had reached both Mayar and Osama. The two residents said they were communicating by SMS since Internet connections were down.

Osama said Benghazi had made a food inventory and determined the coastal city can hold out on its own for several weeks.

"But the priority is to heal the 700 wounded in our hospitals," he said.

Egyptian ambulances are parked at the border between Egypt and Libya, 600 kilometres (370 miles) east of Benghazi, according to Osama, who says he has received updates from residents in the frontier town of Om Saad.

According to the testimonies he collected, Libyan soldiers guarding the border have abandoned their posts and now only the Egyptian army controls the crossing point between the two north African neighbours.

Osama and Mayar reported hearing civilian planes land and take off from Benghazi's airport. An engineer who resides near the airstrip backed up their testimony in another telephone interview.

Egypt's foreign minister, Ahmed Abul Gheit, said the runways of Benghazi airport had been bombed, preventing the landing of Egyptair flights headed to Tripoli with the mission of evacuating Egyptians in Libya.

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