Anti-Gadhafi Protests, Casualties Escalate on Libya's 'Day of Anger'

He's the world's longest serving head of state. But Moammar Gadhafi, Libya's self-declared "King of Kings," is now facing the greatest challenge of his 41-year rule as anti-government protests spread in the North African nation.

Inspired by the revolutions in neighboring Egypt and Tunisia, Web activists have been calling on Libyans to stage nationwide demonstrations today against the country's aging despot.

"From every square in our beloved country, people should all come together in one city and one square to make this regime and its supporters afraid, and force them to run away because they are cowards," reads a post on the anti-Gadhafi website Libya Our Home, according to an MSNBC translation.

Due to censorship by the Libyan state, it is unclear how many people have joined in the so-called "day of anger." But human rights and anti-Gadhafi groups have reported that at least 16 protesters have been killed in clashes with security forces on Wednesday and today.

London-based opposition site Libya Al-Youm said four protesters were gunned down by snipers from the Internal Security Forces in the eastern city of Beyida, which had protests Wednesday and today, according to The Associated Press. Libya Watch, another London-headquartered group, was cited by Agence France-Presse as reporting that government militia "used live ammunition to disperse a peaceful demonstration" in the city, leaving "at least four dead and several injured."

Switzerland-based Libyan activist Fathi al-Warfali, meanwhile, put the Beyida death toll at 11, according to the AP. The news agency also reported that two more people were killed in the southern city of Zentan today -- a day after protesters chanting "People want the end of the regime" burned down a police station there. One demonstrator was killed in the town of Rijban, 75 miles southwest of the capital, Tripoli.

Violent protests also broke out in Benghazi, the country's second-largest city, on Wednesday. Tawfiq Alghazwani, a Dublin-based member of the National Congress of Libyan Opposition, told The Wall Street Journal that one demonstrator was killed in central Benghazi and two more in a region east of the city. Quryna, a Benghazi-based, pro-Gadhafi newspaper, reported that two youths were shot by security forces Wednesday in the eastern regions of the city.

Benghazi was the site of a smaller demonstration on Tuesday, when some 600 people fought with security forces following the arrest of a prominent human rights lawyer, Fathi Tarbel. The director of the city's hospital told AFP that 38 people were treated for light injuries following the clash.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, these disturbances haven't been covered by Libya's tightly controlled state-run media, which has instead opted to cover pro-Gadhafi rallies over the past two days. During today's morning bulletin, Libyan TV broadcast pictures of crowds in cities "across Libya" shouting pro-regime slogans, the BBC reported.

Government supporters in Gadhafi's hometown of Sirte were shown chanting "Oh Jazeera! You despicable one!" -- a reference to Qatar-based news station Al-Jazeera, which has provided extensive coverage of uprisings across the region.

Just like their fellow activists in Tunisia and Egypt, anti-regime protesters in Libya are calling for greater democracy, more jobs and an end to police brutality. However, experts note that unlike his now-toppled autocratic neighbors, Gadhafi has something that will help him survive these turbulent times: vast oil reserves. He can use his petrodollars to placate the population and has already announced that he intends to lower food prices and double state employees' salaries.

"Our argument has always been that Libya is very different from Tunisia and Egypt because they have got the money to buy off people," Charles Gurdon, a Libya expert at consultancy Menas Associates, told ABC News. "Having said that, after Tunisia people said that Egypt would not be the same."