Protesters, inspired by uprisings in neighbouring Tunisia and Egypt, are demanding an end to the 41-year rule of strongman Muammar Gaddafi. His security forces have responded with a violent crackdown. Communications are tightly controlled, and Benghazi is not accessible to international journalists. Human Rights Watch said 84 people were killed in the city on Saturday, bringing the death toll in four days of clashes mainly in the east of the country to 173.
"A massacre took place here last night," one resident, who did not want to be named, told Reuters by telephone on Sunday. Later on Sunday a leading tribal figure who requested anonymity said security forces, mainly confined to a compound, had been venturing out of their barracks and shooting protesters in the street in "cat and mouse chases".
Clashes were taking place on a road leading to a cemetery where thousands had gone to bury the dead. "The situation is very tense and scattered fires have erupted in revolutionary committee headquarters and other buildings," he said.
Piecemeal accounts suggest the streets of Benghazi, about 1000 km (600 miles) east of the capital Tripoli, are now largely controlled by anti-government protesters, under periodic attack from security forces who fire from their high-walled compound. A resident said some 100,000 protesters had headed for the cemetery "to bury dozens of martyrs".
Another witness told Reuters thousands of people had performed ritual prayers in front of 60 bodies laid out in the city. Women and children were among a crowd of hundreds of thousands that had come out onto the Mediterranean seafront and the area surrounding the port, he said. "The protesters are here until the regime falls," he said.
A Benghazi hospital doctor said victims suffered severe wounds from high-velocity rifles. A senior Libyan security source said a group believed to be criminals had launched an attack on the Benghazi municipal building, blew it up, seized rifles and fired randomly in order to create an opportunity to escape.
The Libyan government has not released any casualty figures. A text message sent to mobile phone subscribers on Sunday said protesters in the east were trying to break the region away from central rule.
"The deaths in Benghazi and Al Bayda (a nearby town), on both sides, were the result of attacks on weapons stores to use in terrorising people and killing innocents," it said. "All Libyan sons, we have to all stand up to stop the cycle of separation and sedition and destruction of our beloved Libya." The government has disrupted the Internet, used by protesters to organise.
Al Jazeera, the Arabic television station whose coverage has played a big role in protests throughout the Middle East and North Africa, said its satellite transmissions across the region had been jammed. The Lebanese telecoms minister said the jamming appeared to come from Libya.
The crackdown prompted about 50 Libyan Muslim religious leaders to issue an appeal, sent to Reuters, for the security forces, as Muslims, to stop the killing.
"We appeal to every Muslim, within the regime or assisting it in any way, to recognise that the killing of innocent human beings is forbidden by our Creator and by His beloved Prophet of Compassion (peace be upon him) ... Do NOT kill your brothers and sisters. STOP the massacre NOW!" the appeal said.
Foreign reaction to the unrest in Libya, a major energy producer with significant investment from Britain's BP Plc, Exxon of the United States and Italy's ENI among others, has so far been muted.
British Foreign Secretary William Hague urged Libya to begin dialogue with anti-government protesters and implement reforms, in a phone call to a son of Gaddafi on Sunday.
Hague told Saif al-Islam Gaddafi the Libyan government's actions in cracking down on demonstrators were unacceptable and would trigger global condemnation.
In Brussels, the Hungarian EU presidency said Libya had told the European Union it would stop co-operation with the bloc in stemming illegal migration to Europe if the EU encourages pro-democracy protests in the country.
Gaddafi's fate may hing on whether the unrest remains confined largely to the eastern Cyrenaica region around Benghazi, where his support has traditionally been weaker than in other parts of the country.
Thousands staged rallies in Moroccan cities on Sunday demanding political reform and limits on the powers of King Mohammed VI, the latest protests demanding change that have rocked the region.
Between 3,000 and 4,000 people took to the streets of the capital Rabat, shouting: "The people want change, denouncing corruption and calling for a democratic constitution to be adopted.
In Casablanca, the North African nation's biggest city, more than 4,000 people came out demanding: "Freedom, dignity, justice," an AFP reporter said.
Demonstrations were held in other Moroccan cities, including Marrakesh and the port of Tangier. The protests were largely peaceful though there were reports of some minor unrest after they ended.
Thousands of young Moroccans have joined the "February 20" movement on the social networking site Facebook, calling for peaceful demonstrations demanding a new constitution limiting the king's powers and more social justice.
The call has similar origins to the so-called "Facebook revolutions" that toppled decades-old regimes in Tunisia and Egypt and sparked deadly protests in Bahrain, Yemen and Algeria.
In Rabat, protesters carried banners that read: "The king must reign not govern" and "The people want a new constitution." "The prime minister must have broader powers and be accountable to the people," said 52-year-old teacher Brahim Abu Dahal.
"I want a Morocco that's more fair and with less corruption," said a student demonstrator in Casablanca who asked not to be named.
"We've got nothing against the king, but we want more justice and work," said another student who gave his name as Brahim.
After the protests, witnesses said groups of several dozen people looted some shops, lit cars on fire and threw stones at public buildings in several cities including tourist-hub Marrakesh and the northern port of Larache.
In Marrakesh, 150-200 people attacked and looted shops including a branch of restaurant chain McDonalds, a witness said.
Similar incidents took place in Larache, several witnesses said, with young people attacking some public buildings, including a police post and a customs office. In both cases security forces did not intervene, the sources said.
However police used tear gas against villagers of Al Hoceima after they lit fire to five cars and threw stones at a police station, witnesses said.
Ahead of the protests, Morocco promised to inject 1.4 billion euros in subsidies to soften price hikes for staples - a key factor among others including rampant unemployment behind the spreading unrest in the Arab world.
That came despite comments by analysts that Morocco was unlikely to see Tunisia or Egypt-style unrest due to ongoing reforms by the king, who has ruled the country for more than a decade.
Observers say that despite widespread inequalities in Moroccan society the existence of some political pluralism and a relatively free press mean that the country has as yet been spared the mass protests sweeping other Middle Eastern and North African nations.
But calls have been growing for the king to have less say in government. The current system is a constitutional monarchy granting the king sweeping powers including naming the prime minister.
King Mohammed's cousin, Prince Moulay Hicham el-Alaoui, an academic at the US' Stanford University known as the "rebel prince" for his outspoken criticism of his country's political system, voiced his support for the demonstrations.
"I'm for any initiative that calls for democratising our political system, provided it is done peacefully and with tolerance. It appears that this movement fulfils these conditions and so I support it," he told France 24 television.
The prince, third in line to the throne, said that people wanted to see "progress and political reform in a monarchical context" and that he would welcome the monarchy evolving along the lines of that of Spain or Britain.