Libyan photographer among 43 killed during Tripoli protest

Forty-three Libyans, including a news agency photographer, were killed during an anti-militia demonstration in Tripoli when gunmen started shooting at them with machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades.

Saleh Ayyad Hafyana was taking photographs for the Fassato News Agency when militia members opened fire on the demonstrators who were protesting against the militia’s presence in the neighborhood. He is the first journalist to be killed in Libya since 2011, the Committee to Protect Journalists reported.

Thousands of people were marching peacefully in the Gharghour neighborhood, and about 460 of them were wounded during the attack, according to media reports.

Three other journalists were injured Ahmed El-Wehishi with the Libya Gate; Issam Mohamed Al-Zobir a correspondent for EFE, a Spanish news agency; and freelancer Abdel Man’im Al-Maryami.

By Christine Coester.