A flag “war” has broken out in Libya as protesters hoping to unseat Libya’s Gaddafi begin to wave Libya’s pre-Gaddafi tri-colour flag as a symbol of their defiance and rejection of the regime.

The tri-colour flag was Libya’s first national flag adopted when the country gained independence from Italy in 1951. In 1969, Gaddafi led a group of soldiers in a coup d’état to overthrow the Libyan monarchy. In 1977 after the introduction of Gaddafi’s “Green Revolution“, a revolution that revolved around Gaddafi’s own brand of democracy the all green flag was introduced.

Flags seem to mean a lot to Col. Gaddafi so perhaps its not surprising that protesters have chosen to raise and to wave Libya’s original national flag as an affront and direct challenge to the embattled Libyan leader.

Libya’s 1951 Independence Flag

Col. Muammar Gaddafi’s “Green Revolution” flag