Reply #37: Darkened screens at Benghazi multiplex await war's end [View All]

[pinboy3niner]

By Jay Deshmukh (AFP) – 6 hours ago


BENGHAZI, Libya — The day after the Libyan revolution erupted in February, Benghazi's posh Al-Feel multiplex cinema closed its doors. Its screens are likely to remain dark until the war ends and the boys come home.

"We can't open until fighting ends on the front line where our brothers are battling Kadhafi's men," said Helmi Ali Hassan of the locals risking their lives to capture the hometown of the deposed leader, hundreds of kilometres to the west across the vast Gulf of Sirte.

Hassan, a security guard at the cinema, said the mood in the eastern city is "revolutionary and sombre at the same time," as the rebellion has killed tens of thousands since February.

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""Not a single movie has been screened here since the revolution began. How can we show a movie? People are still engaged in the revolution," said Majid Omar, a caretaker who comes daily to the theatre, gets it cleaned and waits for news from the front line.

Almost every family in Benghazi has someone or the other on the front line. So you can imagine what the mood is like. Entertainment is the last thing people are thinking about," he told AFP.

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