Security forces fired in the air as hundreds of demonstrators gathered to protest against Libyan strongman Muammar Gaddafi in Tripoli on February 28, Reuters reports referring to local mass media.

About 400 demonstrators shouted anti-Gaddafi slogans against his four-decade rule. The police fired in the air to disperse the protestors, RIA Novosti reports.

Armed men from Gaddafi’s battalion, dressed in civilian clothes, opened fire on unarmed young men, many of them were killed and wounded, the agency quotes Quryna newspaper.

According to some sources, 600-2000 people were killed, 4000 injured in anti-government protests in Libya. The demonstrators protest against Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi’s regime, who has been in power for more than 40 years.