Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, the son of strongman Muammar Gaddafi, says that Libya is on the verge of civil war, branding the unprecedented protests against his father's rule a foreign plot.
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Accusing Arab and African expatriates of fomenting unrest in the country, he said the violence was aimed at installing Islamist rule, in a speech on national television in the early hours of Monday morning.
Mr Gaddafi also pledged a new constitution and new liberal laws.
In the tough-talking, finger-wagging speech, Colonel Gaddafi's son blamed foreign media for inflating the death toll but warned that any uprising would be ruthlessly suppressed.
"Libya is not Egypt, it is not Tunisia. There are no political parties in Libya," he said.
"We will take up arms ... we will fight to the last bullet," he said. "We will destroy seditious elements.
"If everybody is armed, it is civil war. We will kill each other."
Mr Gaddafi said his father was in the country and was backed by the army.
"We will fight to the last minute, until the last bullet," he said.
He said protesters had seized control of some military bases, weapons and tanks and he warned of civil war in the country that would burn its oil wealth.
A short time before his address, intense gunfire was heard in the heart of the Libyan capital, Tripoli, and several quarters of the city, witnesses said.
"We are hearing bursts of gunfire everywhere and they are approaching the city centre," a resident of the Al-Andalous quarter told AFP by telephone about the unrest in the early hours of Monday.
Another resident reported gunfire in the Mizran area, near downtown Tripoli.
A resident of the working-class Gurgi area said security forces fired teargas to disperse anti-government protesters.
"There are demonstrations. We are hearing anti-regime slogans and firing. Our house is filled with teargas," he said.
