CNN.com Gadhafi speaks as world leaders discuss Libya's future
(CNN) -- Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi, addressing supporters congregating Tuesday on Tripoli's Green Square, said they represent the real image of Libya. He criticized people trying to undermine Libya's stability. Realities on the ground and defections from more Libyan officials around the world showed Gadhafi's grip on power appeared to be weakening. The Libyan ambassador to the United States, Ali Aujali, called for Gadhafi to resign, joining a growing chorus of Libyan officials, including the deputy ambassador to the United Nations, who say they are working for the Libyan people and not for the leader. In eastern Libya, groups of armed people in civilian clothing were guarding the streets as opposition leaders appeared to be in firm control, CNN correspondent Ben Wedeman reported. Wedeman is the first Western television correspondent to enter and report from Libya during the crisis. As Wedeman was entering the country, a young man at the border in civilian clothing toting an AK-47 asked for passports. "For what?" responded Wedeman's driver. "There is no government. What is the point?" They then drove in. And on the Libyan side, there were "no officials, no passport control, no customs," Wedeman reported. The U.N. Security Council met Tuesday morning behind closed doors -- the group's first meeting since the wave of protests rippling through Arab countries began weeks ago. The Arab League held an emergency summit as well. Ibrahim Dabbashi, Libya's deputy ambassador to the United Nations, called Monday for the U.N. to take key steps, including shutting airspace over Tripoli to prevent Gadhafi's regime from restocking its military. He accused Gadhafi of carrying out "genocide." Dabbashi said the toll in clashes so far could be as high as 800. Human Rights Watch said Monday that at least 233 people have been killed during the unrest. CNN has been in contact with medics and witnesses in Libya, whose accounts appear to corroborate the Human Rights Watch report. The rights group said Tuesday that witnesses in Tripoli "have described Libyan forces firing 'randomly' at protesters" this week and that sources from two hospitals in Tripoli reported at least 62 bodies. Witnesses have told CNN that helicopter gunships fired into crowds of protesters. Libya's government denied it was turning its air force against civilians. Gadhafi's second-oldest son, Saif al-Islam Gadhafi, told the state news agency Al-Jamahirya the warplanes were targeting weapons depots in remote areas. But one witness, who agreed to be identified only as Adam, said helicopters landed troops "armed to the teeth" in Tripoli's Green Square on Monday. "They have been using aerial tactics, along with men on the ground, to disperse and shoot indiscriminately into crowds," he said. The force included both government troops and mercenaries working for Gadhafi, he said. But residents responded by barricading themselves in their homes and setting up makeshift checkpoints to keep cars full of gunmen out of their neighborhoods. Residents in Tripoli on Tuesday reported a food shortage, gunfire and intimidation by security forces. Security forces cordoned off the Fashloom suburb of the capital and were shooting anyone who moves on the streets, including those who are trying to retrieve bodies, said Mohamed Abdallah, spokesman for the National Front for the Salvation of Libya opposition group. Abdallah attributed the information to four eyewitnesses on the ground. CNN could not immediately confirm reports for most areas. The Libyan government maintains tight control on communications and has not responded to repeated requests for access to the country, though CNN has interviewed numerous witnesses by phone. After rumors surfaced that Gadhafi may have fled to Venezuela, the 68-year-old, who has led Libya for 42 years, made a brief appearance early Tuesday on state television. He said he wanted people to know that I am in Tripoli, not in Venezuela. Don't believe those dogs in the media." State television Tuesday showed pro-government demonstrators in the capital holding signs and waving flags. It was not immediately clear why Gadhafi planned to address the country again, when it would happen, or what he planned to say. In eastern Libya, where Wedeman reported, residents said hundreds of mercenaries from sub-Saharan Africa had been killed or captured while fighting for Gadhafi, but much of the army appeared to have switched over to anti-government forces. People in Tobruk threatened to cut off the export of oil from eastern Libya "if Gadhafi does not stop this massacre," Wedeman reported. He saw one police station in Tobruk's main square that was torched. Other buildings were sacked, but banks and some other installations appeared untouched. A senior source close to the Libyan government said ammunition depots had been attacked and that millions of pieces of ammunition and guns were "everywhere." The source said the country was fighting "Islamic extremists." The unrest in Libya entered its eighth day Tuesday, fueled by protesters demanding freedom and decrying high unemployment. Even as Gadhafi tried to assert his power, he gained the ire of increasing numbers of Libyans worldwide. About 250 protesters stormed into the Libyan Embassy in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on Tuesday, chanting and calling for Gadhafi to step down, a counselor at the embassy said. Osama Ahmed said the majority of the protesters were Libyan students studying in Malaysia. The protests were relatively peaceful, and embassy security let the protesters stay for two hours. A top Libyan diplomat stationed in China said Tuesday he had resigned to protest his government's violent crackdown on protesters and called on Gadhafi to step down and leave the country. Hussein Sadiq al Musrati, who was the second secretary in the Libyan mission to Beijing before stepping down four days ago, joined about 20 students and protesters in front of the Libyan Embassy in Beijing on Tuesday. Demonstrators held signs that read, "The game is over. Get out ... you're finished." CNN's Richard Roth, Ben Brumfield, Amir Ahmed, Ingrid Formanek, Eve Bower, Salma Abdelaziz, Mitra Mobasherat and Jaime FlorCruz and journalist Natalino Fenech contributed to this report. 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