Saying the people were behind him, Kadhafi ordered the army and police to crush the popular uprising against his iron-fisted four-decade rule that has already left hundreds dead in the past eight days.
In a live, apparently unscripted speech on national television, the 68-year-old Kadhafi said, "Moamer Kadhafi is the leader of a revolution; Moamer Kadhafi has no official position in order for him to resign. He is the leader of the revolution forever."
"This is my country, my country," he shouted, in a speech consisting of short, angry bursts of words, which he punctuated by shaking his fist or pointing his finger.
He said he would "die a martyr in the land of my ancestors" and "I will fight to the last drop of my blood."
"The Libyan people are with me," he said, calling on them to demonstrate from Wednesday.
"Capture the rats," he said of anti-regime demonstrators. "Go out of your homes and storm them" wherever they are. (*)
Editor: Kunto Wibisono
Copyright © ANTARA 2011
