Protesters break into Libya’s parliament building in Tobruk -witnesses

BENGHAZI (Reuters) -Protesters broke into Libya’s parliament in Tobruk on Friday evening and set a fire in front of the building to express their anger towards Libya’s warring political parties, witnesses told Reuters.

Security forces protecting the parliament withdrew from the site, the witnesses added.

Demonstrations took place on Friday in Tobruk, Benghazi and some smaller towns over a failure of government.

Libya has been in chaos since the 2011 NATO-backed uprising that ousted Muammar Gaddafi. In 2014, it split between warring eastern and western factions before a peace process beginning in 2020 tried to knit the country back together.

However, after a scheduled election was halted in December, the eastern-based parliament said the interim unity government of Abdulhamid al-Dbeibah had expired and it appointed Fathi Bashagha to replace him.

(Reporting by Ayman al-Warfalli; writing by Yomna Ehab; editing by Grant McCool)