TRIPOLI, 21 November 2021, (TON): Hundreds of Libyans protested in Tripoli Friday against war criminals running in next month s presidential election, after eastern strongman Khalifa Haftar and a son of ousted dictator Moamer Kadhafi announced bids.

Demonstrators stamped on posters of Haftar and Seif al-Islam Kadhafi, and voiced anger over a controversial electoral law criticised for bypassing due process and favouring a bid by Haftar.

One speaker called for “all those who have committed crimes against the Libyan people” to be disqualified from the race.

Another said “the blood of our martyrs wasn t spilt in vain.”

The protests come at the end of a week that saw both Haftar and Kadhafi register to run in the December 24 election, which is part of a United Nations-led process attempting to draw a line under a decade of conflict since the fall and killing of Kadhafi senior in a 2011 revolt.

But the runup to the vote has been marred by bitter divisions over the legal and constitutional framework, and many in western Libya have rejected any run by Haftar, who led a devastating but ultimately unsuccessful campaign to seize the capital before he was pushed back in 2020.