Libya not immune to winds of change

Libya not immune to winds of change: "The violent clashes reported from Benghazi, on Libya's north-east coast, could well be a foretaste of what is to follow.

Opponents of the regime are calling for major protests this Thursday, spreading the word by internet.

Libya has had protests before, successfully quashed by the powerful security forces. But those were before the leaders of both Libya's neighbours - Tunisia to the west, Egypt to the east - were driven from power.

There has been much speculation among young, educated Arabs, that the days of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi's regime are numbered.

He himself has been in power for 42 years, making him the Arab world's longest-serving ruler, just ahead of Oman's Sultan Qaboos.

Officially, he does not rule Libya, it is government by committee, with the country adopting various titles like The Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya.

In practice, it is effectively a police state where political parties are banned and dissent is crushed."