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• Fighting spreads to Tripoli • Libyan regime calls on protesters to surrender weapons • Britons return from Libya • Obama tells Gaddafi to stop violence • Benghazi becomes Libya’s first free city 9.26am: Martin Chulov has been tweeting about Benghazi. 9.14am: An interesting article in the New York Times suggests Gaddafi maybe preparing for a final showdown on the streets of Tripoli today. Witnesses in the city told reporters he has deployed “thousands of mercenaries and irregular security” personnel on roads leading to the capital over the past 24 hours as his hold over the regular army slips away. “(They are) massing on roads to the capital, Tripoli, where one resident described scenes evocative of anarchic Somalia: clusters of heavily armed men in mismatched uniforms clutching machine guns and willing to carry out orders to kill Libyans that other police and military units, and even fighter pilots, have refused. Some residents of Tripoli said they took the gathering army as a sign that the uprising might be entering a decisive stage, with Colonel Gaddafi fortifying his main stronghold in the capital and protesters there gearing up for their first organized demonstration after days of spontaneous rioting and bloody crackdowns. ” The piece claims that Gaddafi has built up this mercenary force over many years. “Distrustful of even his own generals, Colonel Gaddafi has for years quietly built up this ruthless and loyal force. It is made up of special brigades headed by his sons, segments of the military loyal to his native tribe and its allies, and legions of African mercenaries he has helped train and equip. Many are believed to have fought elsewhere, in places like Sudan, but he has now called them back.” 9.13am: Oliva Fairless, who talked to the Guardian earlier this week about her mother, 66, and partner, who were trapped in Tripoli, has told us that they have managed to reach Warsaw thanks to the Polish ambassador in Libya, who was a “star”. They were stuck in the Corinthia hotel in Tripoli and decided to leave for the airport yesterday because they were afraid they would not be able to get petrol as supplies were running low. My mother said the airport was chaotic, it was like a refugee camp with about 10,000 people. There were about 94 people in the British section outside the airport, where many Arab workers were trying to get out. They could hear screaming and they could hear shooting, although it was probably for purposes for crowd control. My mother and partner were stuck there from 11am to 6.30pm, it was raining, muddy and freezing. The Polish ambassador came in person and offered seats on a Polish plane and 22 Brits accepted. He was a star, holding an umbrella for people, offering people shelter in his car. When the Polish plane came, it took three hours to get through the airport and the plane finally left at 12.10am. We’re really disappointed at the FCO response. They were left stranded with no advice and no communications. 8.52am: Passengers landing at Gatwick this morning spoke of their relief to be home as they described the “hellish” scenes in Libya. Helena Sheehan, 66, said she had just experienced “some of the worst hours of her life”. She said: “Libya is descending into hell. The airport is like nothing I’ve ever seen in my whole life. It’s absolute chaos. There’s just thousands and thousands of people trying to get out.” Oil worker Bryan Richards escaped from Libya last night on what he was told was the Polish President’s official plane after being offered one of 50 seats. Speaking to the BBC Radio 4 Today programme from Warsaw, he said: “I am not quite sure how it came about but we had a call saying that there’s a Polish plane going with 50 seats. ‘Does anyone want one?’ It was a bit of no-brainer really. I am in Warsaw. I am out of the sand and into the snow.” He said he was nearly “bludgeoned” as he tried to escape through Tripoli airport. “I was the tail-end Charlie of our little entourage going through the airport. I do this many times a year coming in and out of Tripoli airport. Now, we see organised chaos but we are used to it. This was manic. This was the worst nightmare of pop concerts and football hooligans all mixed into one.” 8.45am: While Muammar Gaddafi has lost control of Benghazi, Libya’s second city, he is fighting tooth and nail to hang on to the capital Tripoli. Just how desperate things are in Tripoli can be gauged by this Reuters report out of Cairo. The Libyan people’s committee for general security called on protesters to surrender their weapons and offered rewards for those who inform on protest leaders, in a statement broadcast live on Libyan TV. “He who submits his weapon and shows remorse will be exempted from being pursued legally. The committee calls on citizens to cooperate and inform on those who led on the youth or supplied them with money, equipment or intoxicating substances and hallucinatory pills,” the statement said. The committee also said those cooperating would be given money. “A lucrative monetary reward will be given to anyone who contributes or informs on them,” the statement, read out by a Libyan army officer, said on television monitored in Cairo. • Benghazi may be free but it has paid a heavy price. Read Martin Chulov’s gripping account of Libya’s first free city , where the rebels are busy erasing all traces of the man who has ruled the country for 41 years. • Ian Black writes about Gaddafi’s increasing isolation as senior aides defect . • Barack Obama finally breaks silence on Libya to condemn ruling regime and make threat of sanctions. Arab and Middle East protests Libya Egypt Bahrain Yemen Saudi Arabia Middle East Mark Tran Matthew Taylor Paul Owen guardian.co.uk