Cape woman?s Libyan ordeal

“We heard gunfire the whole night long. It was the most horrific experience in a long time,” said Giselle Lob.

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Barricaded in a guest house in Tripoli, Cape Town architect Giselle Lob watched as thousands of chanting anti-government protesters made their way to a central point.

Later she and her colleagues cowered in a room, the lights switched off and heavy furniture shoved against the door, as supporters of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi drove by and started shooting.

“We heard gunfire the whole night long. It was the most horrific experience in a long time,” Lob said on Thursday, in a telephone interview with the Cape Times from Milan, Italy, where she had fled.

She said the ordeal started unfolding on Sunday last week when she had been at work.

Lob is employed by a Libyan architectural and engineering firm.

She said the head of the company had called the staff members together and told them: “Tripoli is safe.”

The head said if anyone wanted to leave the area for fear of their safety, they were welcome to.

“Later that day he said we are granted a two-week holiday,” Lob said.

She said her colleagues had gone to the airport to book flights out of Tripoli, but Lob said the Internet was down and travel agents could not operate.

Her colleagues had eventually managed to book tickets for a flight to Milan the next day.

“Still up to this time the violence was only rumours and we heard there were thousands of people gathering in neighbouring towns ready to protest. Everything seemed calm - you couldn’t imagine what was to follow,” Lob said.

She and her colleagues had booked into guest houses in Tripoli’s city centre.

“That night we watched as protesters gathered in the Green Square and heard a lot of chanting … We could see people head to the Green Square as the guest house was on one of the roads leading to the square.”

Lob said she watched the news and it appeared the protesters had taken control of the square.

She also watched Gaddafi’s son, Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, give a televised speech during which he blamed the unrest on among other things, tribal factions and intoxicated Islamists.

“Half an hour later thousands of pro-government supporters drove past our guest house and from then until 5am we heard gunfire the whole night long.”

Lob said she and her colleagues had pushed furniture against the door of their room to prevent anyone from entering.

“We switched off the lights and didn’t go near the windows because we didn’t know exactly where the bullets were coming from and going,” she said.

The next morning she had struggled to find a lift to the airport as even cab drivers were afraid to venture out.

But eventually Lob did find transport to the airport.

“It was surprisingly quiet, but you could see lots of burnt things in the street.

“There were also (bullet) holes in the road,” she said.

Lob managed to get to Milan safely.

She was not sure when she would return to Tripoli.

caryn.dolley@inl.co.za - Cape Times

Source: http://www.iol.co.za/cape-woman-s-libyan-ordeal-1.1032098

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