The escape of 1,117 inmates from a Benghazi, Libya prison Saturday morning leaves the threat of even more violence in the city amongst political disagreements and riots the day before. About 100 of these inmates have now been recaptured.
Violence erupted Friday night after political activist Abdelsalam al-Mosmary, a fierce opponent of the political party called Libya’s Muslim Brotherhood, was shot and killed while leaving a mosque.
Supporters of al-Mosmary and protesters of the Muslim Brotherhood attacked the Benghazi and Tripoli offices of the Brotherhood, causing a prison riot to break out in the Kuafiya prison.
According to Yahoo prisoners set their cloths and bed sheets on fire, which led guards to open the gates so they could escape the blaze.
New York Times reports that Ali Zeidan, the prime minister of Libya, said local residents had assisted in the prisoner’s escape efforts.
“The prison was attacked by the citizens who live nearby, because they don’t want a prison in their region,” Zeidan said. “Special forces were present and could have got the situation under control by using their arms, but they had received orders not to use their weapons on citizens, so the citizens opened the doors to the prisoners.”