A baby at a pro-Gaddafi rally in Tripoli. (AFP)

Cairo, Feb. 17 (AP): Libyan protesters seeking to oust longtime leader Muammar Gaddafi defied a crackdown and took to the streets in four cities today on what activists have dubbed a “day of rage”, amid reports that at least 14 demonstrators have been killed in clashes with pro-government forces.

New York-based Human Rights Watch said Libyan internal security forces also have arrested at least 14 people. Hundreds of pro-government demonstrators also rallied in the capital, Tripoli, blocking traffic in some areas, witnesses said.

An Opposition website and an anti-Gaddafi activist said unrest broke out during marches in four Libyan cities today. Organisers were using social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter to call for nationwide demonstrations.

“Today the Libyans broke the barrier or fear, it is a new dawn,” said Faiz Jibril, an Opposition leader in exile.

Gaddafi’s government has moved quickly to try to stop Libyans from joining the wave of uprisings in West Asia that have ousted the leaders of Egypt and Tunisia. It has proposed the doubling of government employees’ salaries and released 110 suspected Islamic militants who oppose him — tactics similar to those adopted by other Arab regimes facing recent mass protests.

The official news agency Jana also reported that thousands of Gaddafi’s supporters planned a rally in Tripoli as well as demonstrations in other cities to express “eternal unity with the brother leader of the revolution”, as Gaddafi is known.

Witnesses in the capital said many government supporters were raising Libyan flags from their cars and chanting slogans in favour of Gaddafi. They said it was otherwise business as usual in the capital and stores remained open.

Protests already have turned violent.

Opposition website Libya Al-Youm said four protesters were slain by snipers from the Internal Security Forces in the eastern city of Beyida, which had protests yesterday and today.

Iraq anger

Two persons were killed and 47 wounded during a protest in the northern Iraqi city of Sulaimaniya today, sources said, as Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki called for demonstrations to be kept peaceful.

Protests also hit the southern city of Kut, the oil hub of Basra, the northern oil city of Kirkuk and other towns — the latest in a series of demonstrations against local governments.