In the Shadow of Patriotism: Tales of a Political Detainee in Libya: Chapter 3

We stood there in town square in front of the King's Palace with every muscle taught, waiting for the inevitable to happen any second. Our mother bent down and told us to look away and not watch. She didn't have to, this was not something I wanted to see. Within seconds the shots rang out one after the other and out of the corner of my eye I could see the slumped bodies sliding down the sides of the Range Rovers. The soldiers that had dragged us from our car and marched us here turned and walked away. Apparently, they were finished with us. Pale and shaking we started to walk through the crowd that was now shouting, pushing and pulling everyone. "Stay together!!!", my mother kept shouting to us. We hooked arms and held hands so as not to get separated and made our way through the narrow streets of the suk. Finally back at our car we piled in and turned the car towards home. Once again, we were stopped by armed militia telling us to turn around and go home. We nodded our agreement, turned the car, and headed once more towards Giorgiompopoli.

Just before reaching Giorgiompopoli we turned onto Zavia Road, the main highway and inadvertently turned into the middle of a convoy of tanks and military trucks. Our hearts lurched and leaped into our throats! We were back in the thick of it again. It seemed best to keep flowing with the convoy and not to hold them up in any way. Our luck was not going to hold out. Ten minutes of "flowing" with the convoy and we were flagged and pulled over. Armed militia came over to the car and ordered us out of the car. While one guard "watched" us at gun point the other three went through our car. I still have no idea what they expected to find and they asked us no questions. After about 30 minutes and an exhaustive search of the car they let us go. Once again, pale and shaking we got back into the car and tried to make our way home. This time we did make it without incident all the way through Giorgiompopoli and to Gargaresh to our house.

In Gargaresh it seemed like another world. It was peaceful and undisturbed. It wasn't even 12 noon yet. All this had happened the morning of September 1, 1969 and before noon. It was a morning I would never forget for the rest of my life!