Libyan protesters return to street after Saturday's 'massacre'

"The military is shooting at all the protesters with live bullets, I've seen it happen with my own eyes," one doctor told the Qatar-based satellite news network. "The military forces are everywhere, even from the hospital I work, we are not safe."

Al Jazeera also notes that the protests appear to be spreading westward, towards Colonel Gaddafi's stronghold in Tripoli. Sources told Al Jazeera that in Misurata, just 100 miles from Tripoli, there were protests against the government's brutality. Mohamed Abdulmalek, the chairman of Libya Watch, said that the lack of protests in western Libya is due to the large security presence there, which is dissuading people from taking to the streets.

In a video posted on Al Jazeera's live blog of events in Libya, British Foreign Secretary William Hague called the reports from Libya "horrifying," and warned the Libyan government that "just because there aren't television cameras present at the scenes that are going on in Libya, that does not mean that the world is not watching, and that doesn't mean that the world is going to ignore the way in which protesters and demonstrators are treated."

There are conflicting reports on the status of Benghazi, writes Reuters, with some witnesses saying Libyan forces have almost no presence in the city aside from a single military compound. But a security source said that the region is "80 percent under control."

Reuters also reports that the government's violent crackdown on protesters prompted a public plea from 50 religious leaders to security forces, as Muslims, to stop using violence against the people.

"This is an urgent appeal from religious scholars (faqihs and Sufi sheikhs), intellectuals, and clan elders from Tripoli, Bani Walid, Zintan, Jadu, Msalata, Misrata, Zawiah, and other towns and villages of the western area," said the appeal.

"We appeal to every Muslim, within the regime or assisting it in any way, to recognize that the killing of innocent human beings is forbidden by our Creator and by His beloved Prophet of Compassion (peace be upon him)... Do NOT kill your brothers and sisters. STOP the massacre NOW!"

Saudi television network Al Arabiya notes that there are reports that Libyan forces have been bolstered by "African mercenaries." Witnesses say that protesters in Benghazi captured a number of mercenaries, who they said were in Libyan military uniforms but spoke French. Libya's national language is Arabic.

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