(AFP) — Protesters in the Libyan capital Tripoli sacked state broadcast offices and set branches of the People’s Committees that are the mainstay of the regime ablaze overnight, witnesses told AFP on Monday.

“The headquarters of Al-Jamahiriya Two television and Al-Shababia radio have been sacked,” one witness told AFP by telephone on condition of anonymity.

Broadcasts on both channels were interrupted on Sunday evening but resumed on Monday morning.

A number of witnesses said protesters had torched public buildings in the capital overnight, not only People’s Committee offices but also police stations.

(Reuters) – BP has suspended preparations for exploratory drilling for oil and gas in western Libya due to growing unrest in the north African country, a spokesman for the British energy giant said on Monday.

The company does not produce any oil or gas in Libya but has been readying an onshore rig to start drilling for fuel in the west of the country.

“We are looking at evacuating some people from Libya, so those preparations are being suspended but we haven’t started drilling and we are years away from any production,” the spokesman said.

Maybe it is fear of coming down on the wrong side of a coup that has left the Obama administration reluctant to criticize Qaddafi’s crackdown. When asked by a reporter if Qaddafi is a dictator, “State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley remained silent and looked for another question to answer,” Fox News reports. Nonetheless, the journalist persisted, finally prompting an answer from Crowley: “I don’t think he came to office through a democratic process.”

This afternoon the State Department released a brief statement — “The United States is gravely concerned with disturbing reports and images coming out of Libya,” etc.—but so far there is nothing from the White House. This is especially bizarre since an administration that in the course of a month has witnessed two Arab uprisings should presumably have some sort of working script by now to apply to events unfolding in Libya. So why is the Obama administration tongue-tied? After all, this is not a U.S. ally, but a regime that in 2009 won, and celebrated, the release of an intelligence officer responsible for the deaths of 190 American citizens over the skies of Lockerbie, Scotland. Merely giving up a nuclear weapons program, as Qaddafi did in 2003, does not make a regime friendly to U.S. interests. Through his silence, Obama is giving the impression that the White House is standing with Qaddafi. – The Weekly Standard

* In Benghazi, the starting point of the revolt, three witnesses said that special military forces called in as reinforcements had instead helped the protesters take over the local army barracks. “The gunshots you hear are the gunshots of celebration,” said Abdel Latif al-Hadi, a 54-year-old Benghazi resident whose five sons were out protesting.

* In the Libyan capital Tripoli witnesses interviewed by telephone on Sunday night said protesters were converging on the capital’s central Green Square and clashing with the heavily armed riot police. Young men armed themselves with chains around their knuckles, steel pipes and machetes. The police had retreated from some neighborhoods, and protesters were seen armed with police batons, helmets and rifles commandeered from riot squads.

* Under Colonel Qaddafi’s idiosyncratic rule, tribal bonds remain primary even within the ranks of the military, and both protesters and the security forces have reason to believe that backing down will likely mean their ultimate death or imprisonment. – New York Times– The New York Times

* Libya’s ambassador to India has resigned in protest at his government’s violent crackdown on demonstrators calling for the ouster of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) reported on Monday. The BBC, on its Arabic service website, said Ambassador Ali al-Essawi also accused the government of deploying foreign mercenaries against the protesters. The BBC confirmed to Reuters it had spoken to Essawi. – Reuters

* Among other unconfirmed reports out of Libya right now, one is that Qaddafi’s sons, Muatassem and Saif al-Islam, fought each other, with the former shooting the latter. It’s hard to know much right now, since media coverage out of Libya has gone virtually black. Al Jazeera explains that its signal was disrupted from a building in southern Libya, which seems to be something of a niche industry for Qaddafi’s regime—for a few years the Libyans were found to be blocking a channel owned by exiled Syrian opposition figures, presumably at the request of the government in Damascus. – Weekly Standard

* Members of a Libyan Army unit told Benghazi residents on Sunday they had defected and “liberated” Libya’s second city from troops supporting veteran leader Muammar Qaddafi. Habib Al-Obaidi, who heads the intensive care unit at the main Al-Jalae hospital, and lawyer Mohamed Al-Mana, told Reuters members of the “Thunderbolt” squad had arrived at the hospital with soldiers wounded in clashes with Qaddafi’s personal guard. “They are now saying that they have overpowered the Praetorian Guard and that they have joined the people’s revolt,” Al-Mana said by telephone.

Ethiopia’s tyrant Meles Zenawi has jammed Al Jazeera today, according to residents in Addis Ababa. Meles has also been jamming Ethiopian Satellite TV (ESAT). In an anticipation of imminent revolt in Ethiopia, the Meles regime has been taking preemptive measures, such as warning parents to prevent their children from taking part in any anti-government activity, deploying heavy weapons on major streets, and blocking internet sites.

The American embassy in Ethiopia’s capital Addis Ababa has invited opposition groups for discussion on current developments in the region, Addis Neger reports:

The embassy says that public uprisings, originating in Tunisia and Egypt, are expanding throughout the region to countries such as Bahrain, Jordan, Libya, Yemen and lately to neighboring Djibouti. According to embassy sources, the US government has expressed concern that similar uprisings may begin in Ethiopia, and that symptoms of such uprisings are already being revealed.

The opposition groups in Ethiopia will be ill-advised to start any kind of negotiation with Meles Zenawi other than demanding his immediate and unconditional resignation.

Manama, Bahrain (Los Angeles Times) — Protesters celebrated Saturday in Bahrain when police and soldiers withdrew from Manama’s symbolic Pearl Square, allowing young Shiite Muslims eager for a larger role in Bahraini society to take back their central stage.

“The police backed down when they saw thousands of people coming from four directions,” said one demonstrator.

Confrontations gave way to a massive party as protesters chanted, hugged and waved yellow and red plastic flowers. Hundreds of Bahraini flags fluttered in the wind.

Soldiers had fired tear gas and bullets at demonstrators a day earlier and brutally cleared Pearl Square before dawn on Thursday, rousting sleeping protesters camped in the traffic roundabout.

Crown Prince Salman ibn Hamed Khalifa, told by by Bahrain’s king to open a dialogue with all opposition forces, said in an interview with CNN that he had ordered the removal of the military from the square. He said the protesters would be allowed to gather and voice their concerns without fear.

The crown prince indicated he was deeply sorry for the deaths of protesters, CNN reported.

At least four people died in the confrontations in and around Pearl Square, and dozens were injured, according to hospital sources. At least two people were wounded earlier Saturday when violence erupted for a third straight day at the square. An angry crowd of men and women sang, “Down, down Hamed!” referring to the king, and “Bring down the government!”

An angry woman impatient to march on Pearl Square shouted: “Every day! We need to be on the street!” Protesters wore bandannas over their faces to protect against tear gas.

But when the police left, the mood turned happy.

A protester who gave his name only as Riyad said: “We will stay. It will not end until the government listens to the people. We will not give up until the government collapses.”