With the Libyan strongman also confronted by defections in his diplomatic corps and the air force after it was allegedly ordered to attack civilians, foreigners thronged to flee the violence which has cost up to 400 lives.[break]
About 10,000 Egyptians were massed at the border in eastern Libya to escape overland, a security source in Cairo said, as hundreds of foreigners, mostly from Tunisia but also Egypt, scrambled for flights out of Tripoli.
"The airport is bursting at the seams. People spent last night there ... It´s a mess," said a Tunisian engineer contacted by telephone.
The UN Security Council was to meet at the urging of Libyan diplomats who defected in protest at the brutal crackdown and the Arab League was also to discuss the uprising which rights groups say has killed up to 600 people.
A day after the revolt sparked in eastern Libya spread to the capital, several districts of Tripoli were calm early on Tuesday, including Tajoura which had seen violent clashes, witnesses told AFP.
Libya´s state telecoms, meanwhile, said disruptions had been caused by a surge on the network, as Internet connections widely used to spread news of the revolt returned to normal and mobile phones were accessible early on Tuesday.
A screen grab from the pan-Arab al-Arabiya satellite television shows Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi holding an umbrella from the back of a vehicle in what state television reported was a live broadcast from the strongman´s home. (AFP)
Kadhafi, known for his sense of drama, made a lightning appearance on state television late Monday to scotch "malicious rumours" he had abandoned the oil-rich North African nation he has ruled for more than four decades.
"Were it not for the rain, I would have addressed the young people at Green Square and spent the night with them to prove I am still in Tripoli," he said in what the television advertised as a live broadcast from outside his home.
"It´s just to prove that I am in Tripoli and not in Venezuela and to deny television reports, those dogs," Kadhafi said as he stood under a silver umbrella about to step into a car.
Rain lashed Tripoli on Monday evening.
Despite the 22-second appearance, his grip on Libya appeared increasingly shaky as loyalists quit and two fighter pilots defected with their Mirage F1s to Malta on Monday rather than follow alleged orders to bomb Benghazi.
But state media were mobilised to forcefully deny the reports of massacres and an imminent collapse of the regime.
"They say there are massacres in several cities, towns and neighbourhoods of Libya. We must fight against these rumours and lies," wrote Al-Jamahiriya Two state television on a red ticker.
This information "aims to destroy your morale, your stability and your riches," it added.
The Security Council meeting was to follow a stark warning by UN human rights monitor Navi Pillay that "widespread and systematic attacks against the civilian population may amount to crimes against humanity."
British Prime Minister David Cameron, on a visit to Kuwait, said "reform -- not repression" was the way to guarantee stability in the Arab world. "Using force cannot resolve grievances, only multiply them," he warned.
Souhayr Belhassen, head of the International Federation for Human Rights (IFHR), quoted witnesses as saying militias and security forces loyal to Kadhafi were "breaking down doors and pillaging" to quell the revolt.
"It is impossible to remove the corpses from the road, we are shot at from above," one witness was quoted as telling a Libyan rights group.
Witnesses in Tripoli on Monday reported massacres in certain neighbourhoods of the capital after Libyan television announced that security forces were assaulting "dens of terrorists."
But Kadhafi´s son, Seif al-Islam, quoted on the television, denied reports the armed forces had bombarded the cities of Tripoli and Benghazi to the east, after Al-Jazeera television reported raids in the capital.
With foreign countries drawing up evacuation plans, a security source in Egypt said the military was beefing up its deployment on the Libyan border in the face of a feared heavy influx of refugees.
Gunfire rattled overnight in Tripoli, where protesters attacked police stations and the offices of the state broadcaster, and set government buildings ablaze, witnesses told satellite news channels and human rights groups.
Rights groups say the government´s crackdown has killed between 200 and 400.
More than 1,000 Chinese construction workers in Libya were forced to flee after gun-wielding robbers stormed their compound, stealing computers and luggage, their employer and state media in Beijing said.
UN chief Ban Ki-moon said he spoke personally with Kadhafi by telephone for 40 minutes on Monday and "forcefully urged him to stop the violence against demonstrators," a UN spokesman said.
Libya diplomats from the United Nations to Australia either resigned in anger -- including Tripoli´s ambassador to India, Ali al-Essawi, a former trade minister -- or openly protested.
Libya´s justice minister, Mustapha Abdeljalil, had also reportedly resigned in protest at "the excessive use of force."
Benghazi, Libya´s second city and an opposition stronghold in the east, has fallen to anti-regime demonstrators after military units deserted, the Paris-based IFHR reported.
It said protesters also controlled Sirte, Tobruk in the east, as well as Misrata, Khoms, Tarhounah, Zenten, Al-Zawiya and Zouara, closer to the capital.
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