For about 100 days, thousands of refugees staged a protest campaign in Tripoli until it was violently ended in January 2022 by Libyan security forces. Calling for protection from abuse and their evacuation to safe countries, the refugee protestors’ manifesto states that they “had no other choice than start organizing ourselves. We raised our voices and the voices of the voiceless refugees who have been constantly silenced. We cannot keep on going silent while no one is advocating for us and our rights.” Despite their struggle for visibility, most mainstream media outlets failed to acknowledge these mass protests and their political significance.
The protests began last October when Libyan authorities conducted large-scale raids against refugee communities in Gargaresh, a neighbourhood of Tripoli. Over 5,000 people, among them many minors, were arrested and forced into detention centres. A week later they rose in rebellion. While hundreds managed to escape, armed security guards opened fire killing six and injuring dozens.
Many of those who escaped joined a protest camp outside the UNHCR Community Day Centre that had formed in response to the raids. With their homes and temporary shelters destroyed by the Libyan authorities, the protestors had built minimal infrastructure themselves to sustain their campaign. First hundreds, then thousands, joined.
