Angry Libyan football fans set GNU building on fire during protest

TRIPOLI: Angry fans of a football ‌club in Tripoli protesting a referee decision set fire to the facade and garden of the headquarters of Libya’s Government of National Unity (GNU), two eyewitnesses and a local TV channel said on Thursday.
The violence flared in the capital on Thursday evening, after fans of Tripoli’s Al-Ittihad football club took to the streets to protest a referee’s decision to deny them a penalty kick in a match against Misrata’s Swehly club.
The match was played in Tarhouna’s city stadium, around 65 km (40 miles) southeast of Tripoli. A Reuters journalist who watched ‌the match said ‌it was stopped in the 87th minute ‌after ⁠Al-Ittihad protested the ⁠decision.
Al-Ittihad fans at the match stormed the pitch, sparking a riot that damaged property and injured stadium guards, the journalist said.
Pictures on social media showed guards with wounds on their heads, legs and hands being rushed to a hospital in Tarhouna.
In Tripoli, according to two eyewitnesses, Al-Ittihad fans who had been watching the match at their ⁠club’s complex marched toward the GNU building and ‌set off fireworks “to express their anger,” ‌causing the building’s facade to catch fire.
“The situation was very chaotic, with thick ‌smoke rising into the sky, and cars in the area ‌were trying to leave before things got worse because the fans were very angry,” one of the eyewitnesses said.
Video footage posted on the Internet and from Istanbul-based Libya Al-Ahrar TV channel showed flames engulfing the glass ‌facade of the GNU building and thick plumes of black smoke billowing into the sky.
There was no ⁠immediate response ⁠by the GNU to a Reuters request for a comment. The situation calmed down around midnight as GNU forces deployed around the building and firefighters brought the fire under control.
Al-Ittihad in a statement on its verified Facebook page demanded “a comprehensive review of all refereeing decisions during the match.” Swehly said in a short statement on Facebook that its team was heading back to Misrata “crowned with victory.”
The internationally recognized GNU is headed by Prime Minister Abdulhamid Dbeibah, who came to power in 2021 in a UN-brokered process.
Libya has had little stability since a NATO-backed uprising in 2011 ousted longtime autocrat Muammar Qaddafi.