TRIPOLI – Libyan demonstrators encamped at a gas terminal in the west of the country demanded, on Wednesday Nov. 6, a halt to gas exports to Italy, raising the stakes in their protest for greater political rights.

The protesters from the minority Amazigh, or Berber, ethnic group had been inside the port for more than a week.

“The Mellitah terminal is under attack by demonstrators who are pushing us to completely halt exports to Italy,” Oil co-operator Eni Chief Executive Paolo Scaroni told Italy’s Rai Radio 1, on Wednesday.

Mellitah is co-owned by Eni and Libya’s state-oil firm National Oil Corp (NOC). Eni is the biggest foreign oil and gas operator in Libya.

Oil sources have told Reuters that oil exports from Mellitah were suspended last week, though Eni has disputed this.

An oil official said protesters might close the gas pipeline feeding the port.

Data from Italian gas grid operator Snam showed that flows through the gas pipeline, called Greenstream, were at 12.7 million cubic meters, meeting the volume requested by buyers on Wednesday.

Libya’s weak central government has failed to control feuding armed groups or resolve political conflicts that are obstructing post-war reconstruction and efforts to build state institutions following the overthrow of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011.

The Amazigh protesters are demanding a bigger say in a committee to be elected to draft Libya’s new constitution.