Libyans take flight from crumbling regime
Two Libyan fighter land in Malta seeking political asylum
Libya denies reports Gaddafi is on way to Venezuela
Ambassadors resign in China, India, Indonesia and Poland
UN sec gen Ban Ki Moon says violence 'must stop immediately'
Read a summary of events here
7.38pm: The BBC have just carried an interview with Libyans in Manchester who have taken to the streets there, as in Liverpool and other parts of the north of England, in solidarity with those opposing the regime in Libya.
"There are no other words to describe what is happening in Libya but genocide," said one.
"What we are witnessing is genocide and it will be recorded in history as that."
Another man, identified as Mohamed Abdul Malek, said many Libyans in the UK were looking forward to going home in order to help "build democracy".
Further protests are planned in the UK for Tuesday, according to the BBC, with many Libyans planning to travel down to London from the north.
7.24pm: A friend of the Libyan novelist Hisham Matar has passed on some details to the Guardian of what he has been seeing and hearing in Tripoli in the last few hours.
He tells us that eight large carrier helicopters were spotted dropping ammunition from the south of Tripoli to Khamis Military facility in the North East side of Tripoli and passed on unconfirmed rumours that two helicopters had actually been brought down after coming fire fire elsewhere.
The man, who will just refer to as 'Ahmed', added:
Though interrupted and random; gunfire remains to be heard in Tripoli with the occasional loud sound of what could be bomb sounds.
Around residential areas (understandably) the city roads are completely absent of civilians everyone is huddled at home or just in front of their houses to avoid possible confrontation with the regime.
Shops are shut and mosques are hardl! y attend ed during prayer times.
7.16pm: It remains very difficult to get a sense of what is happening on the ground in Libya, but many reports suggest that the violence is intensifying.
Reuters has filed this report about claims that anti-government activists and others in Tripoli are being hit from the air:
Tripoli residents gave conflicting reports on Monday, with some saying they could hear gunfire in the Libyan capital and a political activist telling Al Jazeera warplanes were bombing the city.
"We don't know what is going on, all we can hear are occasional gunshots," one resident who lives near the city's central Green Square told Reuters.
"I just hear gunshots sometimes. I am at home guarding my family because the situation is unstable. No one knows what will happen," another resident said.
But Adel Mohamed Saleh, who called himself a political activist in Tripoli, said the aerial bombing had initially targeted a funeral procession.
"What we are witnessing today is unimaginable. Warplanes and helicopters are indiscriminately bombing one area after another. There are many, many dead," Saleh told al Jazeera television in a live broadcast.
"Our people are dying. It is the policy of scorched earth." he said. "Every 20 minutes they are bombing."
Asked if the attacks were still happening he said: "It is continuing, it is continuing. Anyone who moves, even if they are in their car they will hit you."
There was no independent verification of the report but Fathi al-Warfali, the Libyan activist who heads the Swiss-based Libyan Committee for Truth and Justice, who was taking part in a protest outside U.N. European headquarters in Geneva said he had heard the same reports.
"Military planes are attacking civilians, protesters in Tripoli now. The civilians are frightened," al-Warfali told Reuters.
7.04pm: An interesting development in London. Krishnan Guru-Murthy of Channel 4 news has just tweeted that the Libyan embassy in London has replaced the official national flag with the pre-Gaddafi era version, favoured by many of those involved in the current uprising.
However, my colleague Amelia Hill spoke earlier to the Libyan ambassador, who insisted that he still held the post.
While he made no mention of Gaddafi, Omar Jelbam told her: "I am still the ambassador. I am still in control. There have been no defections from the Embassy. It is a lie started by the BBC, by a woman who used to work here."
6.53pm: The two Libyan Air Force fighter pilots who apparently defected earlier with their jets to Malta have told Maltese government officials that they had been ordered to bomb protesters, Reuters reports.
6.38pm: After William Hague said earlier that he had seen information suggesting that Muammar Gaddafi had fled to Venezuela, Libyan state television has carried a denial that he has fled.
The Libyan deputy foreign minister, Khalid Kayem, said: "This news is groundless. It has no basis."
6.33pm: The Associated Press news agency has filed some further interesting detail about an apparent defection by the pilots of Libyan airforce jets, which landed earlier in Malta.
Two Libyan air force jets have arrived in Malta and military officials say their pilots have asked for political asylum amid a bloody crackdown on anti-government protesters in Libya.
The two Mirage jets arrived Monday shortly after two civilian helicopters landed at the airport carrying seven people who said they were French.
A military source familiar with the situation said the jet pilots, Libyan air force colonels, were allowed to land after they communicated from the air that they wanted asylum. They had left from a base near Tripoli and had flown low over Libyan airspace to avoid detection.
The aircraft remain at Malta's airport while the pilots and helicopter passengers are being questioned by airport immigration of! ficials.
6.27pm: Signs that the Gaddafi regime is being abandoned by key officials are growing. They include Libya's entire delegation at the United Nations. The Associated Press news agency reported:
Libya's ambassadors at the United Nations are calling for leader Muammar Gaddafi to step down as the country's ruler.
Deputy Ambassador Ibrahim Dabbashi said Monday that if Gaddafi does not relinquish power, "the Libyan people will get rid of him."
Dabbashi urged the international community to impose a no-fly zone over Libya to prevent mercenaries, weapons and other supplies from reaching Gaddafi and his security forces.
Dabbashi also said he was not resigning.The diplomat says the Libyan delegation is also urging the International Criminal Court to investigate possible crimes against humanity committed against the Libyan people during the current protests.
6.19pm: Libya dominated the headlines on the BBC six o'clock news, which reported: "Libya is burning, and the fire has spread".
In the absence of a team on the ground, like other news organisations, the BBC showed footage from Youtube of the uprising on streets of Tripoli and in other cities.
Reporting from Tunisia, the BBC's Ian Pannell said that Muammar Gaddafi's son, Saif, had made a "bizarre and rambling" speech in the early hours of the morning on state television "blaming drug addicts and even the BBC."
The channel also carried a segment from a short interview in Cairo with the Prime Minister, David Cameron, in which he said that condemned the violence of the Libyan regime and said that aspirations for greater rights should be met with reform.
6.17pm: Reuters is reporting that 160 people have died in Tripoli, citing a television channel in the Gulf, although the figure has not yet been independently verified.
Clashes in the Libyan capital Tripoli on Monday have left 160 people dead, Arabiya television quoted eyewitnesses as saying.
!The A rab satellite channel gave the number in a newsflash, without providing further details.
6.08pm: Reuters says the UN secretary general Ban Ki Moon held talks with Muammar Gaddafi on Monday, during which he condemned the escalating violence in Libya and told him it "must stop immediately,"
A UN spokesman said:
The secretary general expressed deep concern at the escalating scale of violence and emphasised that it must stop immediately. He reiterated his call for respect for basic freedoms and human rights, including peaceful assembly and information
The secretary general underlined the need to ensure the protection of the civilian population under any circumstances. He urged all parties to exercise restraint and called upon the authorities to engage in broad-based dialogue to address legitimate concerns of the population.
6.04pm: Our Middle East editor Ian Black has been looking at reports that Libyan diplomats are deserting the regime. We are preparing it for publication now, but here's an extract
Libyan diplomats are voting with their feet as the country's crisis deepens, with ambassadors resigning their positions in China, India, Indonesia, Poland as well as from the Arab League in Cairo.
But Omar Jelban, head of the London People's Bureau, on Monday flatly denied an al-Jazeera report that he had quit. Jelban was earlier called into the Foreign Office to hear what William Hague called "our absolute condemnation of the use of lethal force against demonstrators."
Australia also summoned the Libyan envoy to protest at the bloodshed.
Libya's deputy UN ambassador told the BBC that "all the Libyan people want Gaddafi to go." Other members of Libya's UN mission said they were quitting to support anti-government protesters. "We are aware that this will put our families back home in danger, but they are in danger anyway," said Adam Tarbah.
In New Delhi Ali al-Essawi accused his own government of dep! loying f oreign mercenaries against the protesters.
Three local employees of the Libyan embassy in Stockholm, Sweden said they had quit in protest. "It would be hypocritical to assist the Libyan government while we see them attacking people in the streets," said Sayed Jalabi.
5.59pm: Salem Gnan, a London-based spokesman for the National Front for the Salvation of Libya, says eyewitnesses in Tripoli have told him the navy has opened fire on parts of the capital.
We have just heard that the military ships are bombing an area in Tripoli and many people have been killed although we don't know how many at the moment because people have just called to tell us it is happening.
Gnan said the navy appeared to be bombing a residential area outside the city centre as part of a desperate crackdown by Gaddafi's troops.
He is even turning the ships on his people now. His plan is to use absolutely everything he can to stop what is happening.
Gnan said he had had also had reports of ongoing shooting around Gaddafi's residence in Tripoli and said more people were taking to the capital's streets as darkness fell. "This is going on because if it stops that means it is finished. This will be the last act." He said people were travelling to Tripoli from across the west of Libya for a "final showdown."
I have had calls from people in towns and cities all across Libya. Those in the east can not get out but those in towns and cities in western Libya, everybody is saying: "We are going to Tripoli." The plan is to come from everywhere and go to Tripoli to sack the city, for the finish.
5.55pm: Here is a summary of events today:
The crisis in Libya has deepened with reports that Muammar Gaddafi ordered fighter jets to attack parts of the capital, Tripoli. Salem Gnan, a London-based spokesman for the National Front for the Salvation of Libya, says eyewitnesses in Tripoli have told h! im the n avy has opened fire on parts of the capital.
Muammar Gaddafi, the Libyan leader, "may have gone to Venezuela", British foreign secretary William Hague has said. But sources in the Venezuelan government denied the reports.
Two Libyan fighter jets and two civilian helicopters have landed in Malta.
Elsewhere in the Middle East, the Bahrain grand prix has been cancelled because of anti-government protests there. And five people are dead after riots in Morocco.
Follow this live blog for continuing coverage into the evening.
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