Black Libyans Being Beaten and Removed From Homes at Gunpoint in Gadhafi Stronghold of Tawergha

Black Libyans are under siege as the revolt against dictator Moammar Gadhafi continues. They are being forced from their homes at gunpoint and even beaten.

After weeks on the run, thousands of black Libyans driven from their homes during the revolt against Muammar Gaddafi have resurfaced across the country, finding refuge in a squalid camp they hope is only temporary.

Once residents of Gaddafi's stronghold of Tawergha, the families now wander a dusty compound ringed with garbage and staffed by a handful of volunteers from the city of Benghazi struggling to prevent the spread of disease as numbers swell.

The group's eastward flight began last summer, when anti-Gaddafi forces overran Tawergha and vengeance-seeking crowds ransacked it, leaving a ghost town behind.

"They chased us with guns and knives," said Ibrahim Med Khaled, a 24-year-old taxi driver recently arrived at the former construction site after spending weeks dodging hostile crowds across the country's west before being captured by armed men.

 Read more:  http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/10/17/us-libya-displaced-idUSTRE79G2CY20111017