Muammar Gaddafi's palaces in Libya now dumps and pet markets
The sprawling palace compounds from which Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi ruled for four decades have been reduced to rubbish dumps and pet markets by the 2011 revolution which toppled him.
In the heart of Tripoli, the once feared but now humbled Bab al-Aziziya compound resembles a wasteland.
During his rule, Libyans would be nervous just walking anywhere near the fortress-like seat of the Gaddafi regime. "People were afraid even to look at the walls, for fear of being arrested," said Hassan, a Tripoli taxi driver.
All that remains of the compound, which was hit in a 1986 US air strike before being pounded by Nato four years ago, are a few ruined buildings, the green flooring of Gaddafi's home and a dug-up network of underground tunnels. The monument of a gold-coloured fist clenching a US fighter plane was vandalised and sent off to Misrata, a rebel bastion during the revolt which ousted and killed Gaddafi.
At a safe distance from his people, Gaddafi lived behind fortified walls with his wife, their children, close advisers and guards. Apart from the bedouin tents on which Gaddafi prided himself and which accommodated him on travels abroad, the compound once showcased a zoo, an indoor pool, countless murals and a fairground.
In the eastern city of Benghazi, birthplace of the revolution that is now an Islamist stronghold, traders have converted his more than 10-hectare palace grounds and barracks into a marketplace to sell birds, dogs and other pets.
In 2012, Islamist group Ansar al-Sharia occupied Gaddafi's Benghazi home. It was pulverised in air strikes last October by anti-Islamist forces.
Now, the area is used as a dump where the city's municipality burns household rubbish.
"This place is not worthy of being anything but a dump. It reminds us of a black chapter in our history and many painful memories," said Ali al-Masrati, a passer-by.
