The overall death toll remains unknown, but Italy’s Foreign Minister reports more than 1,000 people may have died so far. According to eyewitness accounts, Tripoli’s airport has been overrun with Libyans desperately trying to flee their country. Most of eastern Libya is now under opposition control. In western Libya, anti-government protesters have taken control of Misurata, Libya’s third-largest city about 130 miles from the capital city of Tripoli. In the eastern town of Tobruk, residents celebrated after taking control.

Protester: *”These people just want their freedom. These people just want to live a normal life. We just want water. We just want electricity. We just want to live a normal life. We want to go to school. We want to have normal lives, as everyone else is living in the whole world. My brothers are being killed in other cities. My sisters are being killed. Massacres are happening. People are dying. People are dying. Just please help us. We’re not even asking for animal rights; we’re asking for human rights here. Please help us. Please help us.”*

**U.N. Human Rights Chief Condemns Libya for “Crimes Against Humanity”**

The U.N. Human Rights Council is set to to meet in Geneva tomorrow to address the Libyan government’s assault on demonstrators. The U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, renewed her call for an international probe of the Libyan government for *”crimes against humanity.”*

Navi Pillay: *”I expect that the outcome may well pick up on the suggestion I made that there is an immediate need for an international independent investigation of violence against unarmed protesters in Libya, which I considered would constitute crimes against humanity.”*

The United States has faced calls to impose a no-fly zone over Tripoli and reinstate sanctions against the Libyan government. In Washington, D.C., President Obama said he is considering several options, calling the violence *”unacceptable.”*

President Obama: *”The suffering and bloodshed is outrageous, and it is unacceptable. So are threats and orders to shoot peaceful protesters and further punish the people of Libya. These actions violate international norms and every standard of common decency. This violence must stop. The entire world is watching, and we will coordinate our assistance and accountability measures with the international community.”*