TRIPOLI: The civilian activists apprehended the ship as soon as it had anchored at the port in protest against Qatar’s policies. However the activists released the ship after Libya’s house of Representatives and the Local Council in Brega arbitrated, said Mohamed Al-Maghrabi, the head of Customs section at east port.
Al-Maghrabi quoted the protesters as vowing to seize any Qatari ships that arrive at the port in the future.
“They [the demonstrators] accuse both Qatar and Turkey of backing Libya’s radical Islamist movements,” al-Maghrabi said.
The two states had repeatedly denied this charge before.
Libya has been dogged by political instability since the 2011 ouster and death of long-ruling strongman Muammar Gaddafi.
In the three years since, rival militias have frequently locked horns, often bringing violence to the country’s main cities, especially the capital Tripoli and the eastern city of Benghazi.
The central government, meanwhile, has appeared largely absent from the scene.
