Libyan security forces said they had arrested around 4,000 migrants in a major raid in the capital Tripoli. The Libyan Ministry of the Interior announced on Friday evening that they were initially taken to a collection camp and were later to be distributed to other camps. They are “illegal refugees” of various nationalities.
Pictures show how armed and partly masked security forces arrest people and transport them to the camp on pick-ups. According to the Interior Ministry, the raid in a district in western Tripoli was directed against “drug traffickers, alcohol smugglers and illegal migrants”.
Civil war has raged in Libya since the overthrow of long-term ruler Muammar al-Gaddafi around ten years ago. The North African country has since developed into the most important transit route for refugees who want to go to Europe.
Time and again, many people die on the dangerous crossing over the Mediterranean. The EU-backed Libyan Coast Guard intercepted around 15,000 people at sea in the first half of this year and brought them back to the civil war country.
Migrants continue to face violence, extortion and forced labor in Libya, according to human rights activists. In internment camps under the Libyan Ministry of the Interior, migrants continue to be starved and exploited, Amnesty International said last July. When trying to escape, some were injured or even killed by gunshots by guards.