Protesters shot as they march after Friday prayers in Tripoli

Colonel Gaddafi's troops clashed with protesters in Tripoli today as more than 1,500 people marched defiantly against the dictator.

Loyalist soldiers fired live bullets and tear gas as they tried to break up crowds chanting "Down with Gaddafi" and waving the flag of the uprising.
Worshippers pouring out of the Murad Agha mosque after Friday prayers in the eastern district of Tajoura were met with force when they tried to march.

A 29-year-old man, who had a family member shot dead last Friday, said protesters were worried about pro-Gaddafi spies, but wanted "to show the world that we are not afraid".

Loyalist soldiers sought to clamp down on the movement of the rebels by setting up checkpoints on the main road in and out of Tripoli.

There were reports of at least three dead and many injured in Zawiya, the closest opposition-held city to Tripoli, after an attack by a large force from a brigade led by one of Col Gaddafi's sons. The troops from the Khamis Brigade, named after the son, fired mortars and then fought battles of heavy machineguns and automatic weapons with residents and rebel army units.

Heavy fighting also broke out in the eastern oil port of Ras Lanuf, 410 miles east of Tripoli.

The UN warned today that thousands of refugees could flood into Europe in the wake of the Libya crisis.

The chaos on the borders of the stricken country may just be the beginning of a huge movement of people across North Africa and the Mediterranean. About 140,000 migrants have attempted to cross into Egypt and Tunisia and thousands of Nigerians have fled south to the border with Niger.

The United Nations Refugee Agency said European countries should start preparing for a "mass exodus" of Libyans and other nationalities.
A spokeswoman said: "At the moment we are worried about the dramatic drop in the number of people trying to get into Tunisia as we know tens of thousands are trying to flee the violence. That may be as a result of fear or they could be being actively prevented.

"The situation could change very quickly and there could be mass exodus trying to get across the Mediterranean. It would be responsible for European countries to start preparing."

Agencies such as the International Organisation for Migration have called for an $11 million emergency fund to deal with refugees stranded at the border. It calculates that there are about half a million foreigners in Libya who are trying to get out. The huge movement of economic migrants and asylum seekers has been building across North Africa - this year could be the tipping point.

The Italian interior minister, Roberto Maroni, of the anti-immigration Northern League, has asked for immediate EU help to deal with up to a million illegal immigrants expected to land in Italy this year. The EU border agency says the number could be 1.5 million.

In 2008, Silvio Berlusconi signed a friendship pact with Libya, including $5 billion reparation for Italy's colonial rule in the early part of the last century.

The hidden understanding was that Col Gaddafi would detain many of those using Libya as a port of departure for Europe. The Libyans are believed to have detained up to 2.5 million would-be migrants and asylum seekers.