"Casualties fell in their dozens, and we have counted at least 11 dead" after snipers on rooftops and a tank "fired on demonstrators," he said.
The spokesman told AFP that loyalist forces earlier "forcibly rounded up some 500 people from outside the city and took them to the centre to demonstrate in support of Kadhafi."
He added that a "counter-demonstration by thousands of Misrata residents" was also staged before Kadhafi`s forces opened fire.
The Libyan`s strongman`s troops had not yet taken Misrata, but "have taken up position along the main road where they have deployed three tanks, as well as positioning snipers on rooftops," the rebel spokesman said.
State television urged the people of Misrata, Libya`s third city 214 kilometres (132 miles) east of Tripoli, to "leave their homes and resume a normal life after the city has been purged of armed criminal gangs" -- a term the authorities use for the rebels.
The insurgents have fended off several attempts by Kadhafi`s forces to retake the city, after they took control of Misrata in the early days of the the revolt that erupted in mid-February. (*)
Editor: Kunto Wibisono
Copyright © ANTARA 2011
