Mayor’s home burnt to ashes in Libyan flood protests

The mayor’s house in Derna, a city in Libya, was completely destroyed by fire. The underlying cause of this situation was the collective frustration among protestors who demanded an explanation for the occurrence of a severe flood last week.

They met on Monday evening at the famous Sahaba Mosque in the city. Many of them were shouting and demanding that the top officials in Libya’s eastern government be fired.

Derna’s entire city council has been fired.

Over 10,000 people are officially unaccounted for after two old and run-down dams broke, causing the city to be flooded.

The United Nations recently stated that they have confirmed almost 4,000 deaths, although there have been different numbers reported before.

The house of Derna’s mayor, Abdulmenam al-Ghaithi, has become a central place for people’s anger.

People who live there say that the officials didn’t give them enough warning, even though they probably knew there would be a lot of rain.

Some people say they were told to stay at home instead of leaving, but officials say this is not true.

After Muammar Gaddafi was removed from power, Libya has faced conflicts over who should be in charge. Right now, there are two governments: one that the United Nations acknowledges as legitimate, located in Tripoli, and another one in the eastern part of the country supported by military leader Gen Khalifa Haftar.

He says the flooding is a natural disaster, but many Libyans disagree. They believe the eastern government didn’t take care of the dams, even though they were warned about their weak condition.

Speaking from his hospital bed in Benghazi, Abdelqader al-Omrani, who is 48 years old, told the AFP news agency that he and other people who live near the dams had noticed leaks two years ago. They had warned the municipality and asked for repairs to be done. “He said that they now feel responsible for causing our deaths. ”

Scientists from the World Weather Attribution group recently said that the conflict in Libya and the lack of maintenance of dams have caused severe weather conditions, resulting in a humanitarian crisis. They also mentioned that global warming, caused by human activities, has led to a 50% increase in rainfall in eastern Libya.

The day after the protests, a government official in eastern Libya said that all journalists were told to leave Derna. The official claimed that the journalists were making it difficult for the rescue teams to do their job.

Emadeddin Badi from the Atlantic Council think tank wrote on X (formerly Twitter) that this is not about health or safety, but instead it is about punishing the protesters in Derna.
Apart from receiving help from other countries, areas in Libya where militias were previously fighting are now getting support from local people who are voluntarily using their own cars to provide essential items like food, water, medicine, and bedding.

But people who help others are saying there could be a big problem with people’s health soon, and people who protest are saying they need more help.

And since their most important belongings were taken away by the water, they also need places where they can get new passports and identification papers.

On Monday, there were large gatherings at the Sahaba Mosque, which was already partially damaged by flooding. These were the largest gatherings since the floods occurred, and there are indications that the protest may have support from official organizations.

Claudia Gazzini from the International Crisis Group in Libya said that normally the protest location, the Sahaba Mosque, is closed to the public as part of the emergency zone. However, she questioned why suddenly the public was allowed to gather there.

“It leads me to believe that it might not have been just a sudden burst of anger. ”