© AFP Gianluigi Guercia

BENGHAZI (AFP) - Crowding the courthouse square and spilling out onto the corniche by the Mediterranean, the people of Benghazi gathered for their first Friday prayers free of Moamer Kadhafi's rule.

"Oh Allah," they shouted in unison, their voices ricocheting off the concrete buildings of Libya's second city, as they raised their palms as one to the sky in supplication.

Perhaps 8,000 people gathered for the midday prayers with local imam Salem Jaber, who delivered his sermon alongside the coffins of three men killed in the violent uprising that routed Kadhafi loyalists from Benghazi.

One of the coffins was briefly opened for photographers. It contained a male body with a huge cavity in its chest.

"Under Kadhafi, the world began to hate Libyans and to see us as terrorists bent on destruction," the imam told the crowd.

"We want to teach the world that we are not like that. We want to live like other people live."

When the imam said "we will not abandon Tripoli," the Libyan capital still under Kadhafi's control, the worshippers broke out with "Allahu akbar" or God is greatest.

But the imam also had advice for Europe and the United States as the most violent of the uprisings to rock the Arab world this year continued to play itself out.

"We do not want any foreign military intervention," he said. "If they try to intervene, Omar Mukhtar will come forth again."

Mukhtar, a native of eastern Libya and expert in desert warfare, led a stubborn guerrilla war against the Italian occupation of Libya for 20 years before he was captured and hanged in 1931.

"We want a white revolution," the imam said. "Kadhafi wants to turn it red -- but we will not allow that. This is a revolution made by the people. From now, no one will rule except the people."

Benghazi got a glimpse at NATO naval power on Thursday when the British frigate Cumberland docked and collected 207 passengers, including 68 Britons, many of them oil field workers, to take them to safety in Malta.

Atop a downtown building on Friday, three men with shoulder-mounted anti-aircraft missiles watched over the crowd like guardian angels. "We are up here on the roof to protect the worshippers," one of them explained.

When the sermon was over, a battle tank stationed on the seafront and no longer under Kadhafi's control fired a celebratory round into the Mediterranean as the sun peeped behind the clouds.

The significance of Friday's prayers weighed heavily on the minds of the worshippers.

© AFP Gianluigi Guercia

"This is the first free Friday sermon in 42 years," said Benghazi resident Ramadan Hashimi, who since Kadhafi came to power in September 1969 has preferred to pray at home than to attend government-approved prayers.

Factory owner Mohammed Qatat, taking in the crowd around him, said: "This must really annoy Moamer Kadhafi. He always wanted such numbers to turn out for his speeches, and they never did."