Al Jazeera’s fake Green Square

Al Jazeera and Sky News on Sunday aired videos showing rebels celebrating their surprisingly quick victory over Tripoli in Green Square.

But we believe that they have actually been showing a staged scene, including a fake scenery, one that’s reportedly been built in Doha, Qatar. Impossible you say? Then continue reading.

First off, let’s see a recording of a show aired on the Libyan state television on 17 Aug, just four days before the incident. In it, we are told that parts of Tripoli have been reproduced in Qatar, to be used as a scenery for fake proof of the fall of Tripoli.

Now watch this video that Al Jazeera aired yesterday. Watch very closely at around 1:19.

We believe that what we’re seeing here isn’t the original Bab al-Hurriya (“Freedom Gate”) and the 600 year old ancient walls around it. Compare the video with some photographs of the same spot. Notice how in the Jazeera video, the motive above the small arch is very vague, while the the street behind the left gate looks a lot like a photograph or a painting.

Source: http://cyaegha-c.livejournal.com/460657.html.

The relatively small crowd in the video seems to be there solely for the camera. We are reminded a lot of the staged toppling of Saddam’s statue in April 2003, which Robert Fisk called “the most staged photo-opportunity since Iwo Jima.”

@GrayCardinal1 noted that there haven’t been any daytime pictures from today showing rebels cheering inside Tripoli. He suggested that the scenery works better for nighttime shots. He also suggested that Al Jazeera has prepared fake footage showing victorious rebels in front of the Bab al-Azizia compound, which it is yet to air.

What’s the purpose of these fake news?

According to metrogael.blogspot.com, the “Al Jazeera hoax was intended to create the impression that Tripoli had fallen so as”:

to break the Libyan resistance by creating panic and chaos in the Libyan captial. to provide cover for the massacres of civilians that would occur in the days following the declaration of rebel victory.

What is really happening in Tripoli, then?

If what we’re seeing in the mainstream media is made up, then what is really happening in Tripoli?

Reliable sources say that only the Gargaresh and Janzour areas in western Tripoli are under rebel control and that there has been heavy fighting and intense Nato bombing, with immense human losses. On the night of Saturday alone, 350 people are reported to have been killed, with 3000 more wounded. Meanwhile, Nato admits to having helped arm underground groups in Tripoli over the past three months.

The same reliable sources say that the center, including the Green Square and the area around the Rixos hotel, and the rest of Tripoli remain under government control. Furthermore, none of Gaddafi’s sons have actually been captured or killed, contrary to what has been widely reported.

Update Tuesday morning: Just now, Saif al-Gaddafi personally went to the Rixos hotel to prove that he’s not detained. Earlier today, Mohammad Gaddafi has been reported to have fled from house arrest. And then Khamis Gaddafi, whose dead body rebels claim to have found, has in fact been reported dead at least three times by the rebels: on 20 March, 5 August and today.

Update Tuesday night: Here’s a video from early Tuesday that shows Saif al-Gaddafi visiting together with journalists the Bab al-Azizia military compound. He’s not even wearing a vest, and apparently the compound is indeed in tight loyalist control.

According to @TheTruthLibya, videos being aired on all major news channels showing victorious rebels in Bab al-Azizia are fake!

If you want more up-to-date information on what’s really happening in Tripoli and Libya, I suggest you follow @GrayCardinal1, @LibyanLiberal and friends on Twitter. And Mathaba and the Centre for Reasearch on Globalization.