{{Armed protesters have stormed the eastern Libyan oil port of Zueitina in an attempt to stop export operations, a witness has said.}}
The raid on Tuesday at the port, 850km east of Tripoli, came hours after workers temporarily suspended a strike and resumed production at oilfields that pump to the terminal.
It was not immediately known what the protesters wanted, but an engineer working at the port recognised them as being part of a group of civilian demonstrators who shut down the terminal for several weeks earlier this year demanding jobs.
“The group arrived and asked that operations be shut down,” the engineer told the Reuters news agency by phone.
“A ship bound for Italy was being loaded with crude and I had to negotiate with them to allow the loading to continue.
“It was difficult to convince them but the ship is being loaded. All other export activities are shut down.”
A senior Libyan oil industry source confirmed the disruption and said export operations were affected.
The incident occurred just hours after workers at Libya’s Zueitina Oil Company suspended their strike that had shut down oilfields and halted operations at the Zueitina terminal, demanding a change in management relating to a dispute over work conditions.
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