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Libyan students at MSU worry for their homeland

By Kevin Lavery, WKAR News

East Lansing, MI – The political crisis in Libya is prompting Michigan State University students from that country to come together to share their thoughts. The pro-human rights protests in Libya are part of a wave of unrest sweeping across much of the Middle East.

One student -- whose name is being withheld for safety reasons -- says at first, she and her countrymen were happy when they saw the revolutions in Tunisia and Egypt.

"Because we are close by, we know they suffer and we know their problems," she says. "And we thought as Libyans that we are far away from that kind of violence because we thought we were in a free country. We thought our voices count, our thoughts count...and it turns out, it does not."

The student says she feels it's her job to tell the world about the crackdown in Libya. Government security forces have fired upon the crowds in recent days, and Libyan president Moammar Gadhafi is defying calls for him to step down.

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