Hundreds of Libyan protesters took to the streets of the country's second largest city on Wednesday demanding that the government be ousted, in a sign that the unrest of the region has spread to the North African Arab nation.
Protesters in the port city of Benghazi chanted slogans demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Baghdadi al-Mahmoudi, witnesses said, clashing with government supporters.
There were no calls for longtime leader Moammar Gadhafi to step down. On Monday, however, several opposition groups in exile called for the overthrow of Gadhafi and for a peaceful transition of power in Libya.
As in the Egyptian and Tunisian uprisings, Libyans are using social networking websites like Facebook in calling for a nation-wide day of protests on Thursday.
Libya's official news agency made no mention of the anti-government protests on Wednesday, saying only that supporters of Gadhafi were demonstrating in the capital, in Benghazi and in other cities.
But the online edition of Libya's privately-owned Quryna newspaper, which is based in Benghazi, reported that a crowd of people angry at the arrest of a rights campaigner had gathered armed with petrol bombs and stones.
It said they protested outside a local government office to demand the release of the human rights activist, and then went to the city's Shajara square where they clashed with police and government supporters.
The rioting ended by morning, said the website, and government supporters had taken over the square. Fourteen people were reportedly wounded, including 10 police officers, but none of the injuries were serious.
A Benghazi resident contacted by Reuters said the people involved in the clashes were relatives of inmates in Tripoli's Abu Salim jail, where militant Islamists and government opponents have traditionally been held.
"Last night was a bad night," said the witness, who did not want to be identified.
"There were about 500 or 600 people involved. They went to the revolutionary committee [local government headquarters] in Sabri district, and they tried to go to the central revolutionary committee ... They threw stones," he said. "It is calm now."
Meanwhile, a local rights activist told Reuters a few hours after the protests that the government had agreed to free 110 prisoners jailed for membership of banned militant organization the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group.
The prisoners are the last members of the group still being held and will be set free from Tripoli's Abu Salim jail, chairman of the Libya Human Rights Association Mohamed Ternish told Reuters.
Hundreds of alleged members of the group have been freed from jail after it renounced violence last year.
While making no mention of the opposition protesters, Libyan state television showed footage Wednesday of a rally in the Libyan capital, Tripoli, of government supporters.
Participants chanted slogans accusing Qatar-based television news channel Al Jazeera - which was instrumental in revolts in neighboring Tunisia and Egypt - of broadcasting lies.