Despite efforts to keep anti-Dabaiba protests alive this week, there were only a handful of small protests with limited impact.
From 6 January and on the following days, calls were made for a popular movement and demonstrations on Friday 9 January in Tripoli, Misrata, Zawiyya, Sabratha, Zuwara, Zintan, and other western cities rejecting the current political order. The calls said PM Abdul Hameed Dabaiba’s government should be held accountable for obstructing political solutions and should resign. Measures were threatened, including halting oil and gas flows to Europe, in response to Italy and the EU’s political support for the Government of National Unity (GNU).
On 7 January, Grand Mufti al-Sadiq al-Ghariyani attacked the protesters, describing them as ‘criminals’. He demanded that the security authorities deal with them ‘firmly’ and punish them mercilessly.
On 8 January, a call was issued in Tripoli via social media for a peaceful demonstration the next day immediately after afternoon prayers in front of the UN mission. The protest aimed to demand better living conditions and relief for citizens, and to reject what organizers describe as the International Criminal Court’s political interference in Libya’s judicial affairs. They stressed that joining the demonstration is both a legitimate right and a national duty to peacefully express public demands.
On 9 January, security forces imposed a tight cordon around the UNSMIL HQ in Janzour, in a move to prevent protesters from breaching the gates or the wall around the compound.
About 150 protesters gathered outside the compound in the afternoon and issued a statement calling for the removal of Dabaiba’s government and the UN mission. They urged the creation of a new government to prepare for presidential and parliamentary elections, unify military, security, and political institutions, and steer the country toward stability. The statement argued that the current authorities have lost all popular legitimacy. Protesters accused the UN mission and foreign actors of managing the crisis rather than resolving it, by continuing to work with the same groups that blocked elections and squandered public funds. They held the mission historically responsible for past failures and demanded an end to engagement with illegitimate bodies, calling instead for a genuine Libyan-led process that reflects the people’s will through free and fair elections.
On the same day, just a few dozen people protested in Misrata against the Dabaiba government.