Two thousand people took to the streets of Benghazi on Friday to protest against militants and former rebel militias who have been fighting armed forces and taken over an important military base in the eastern Libyan city.

The heavy clashes in Benghazi and the capital Tripoli over the past two weeks have been the worst since the 2011 fall of Muammar Gaddafi, killing more than 200 people and forcing most Western governments to pull their diplomats out of the North African state.

Fierce fighting among rival factions in the country’s two major cities also underscores Libya’s fragile control over the heavily armed brigades of former anti-Gaddafi rebel fighters and militias who refuse to disband.

The Benghazi Revolutionaries Shura Council, an alliance formed by former rebels and militants from Ansar Al Sharia, which Washington classifies as a terrorist organisation, have forced the army to pull out of Benghazi.