TRIPOLI: Hundreds of residents and policemen in Tripoli protested jointly Wednesday against former rebels who toppled Moammar Gadhafi but are still camping out in the capital and still have their weapons.

Men, women and children waving Libya’s national flag and shouting slogans against the militias gathered in Tripoli’s landmark Martyrs Square in a rally organized by the city council and backed by the interim government.

“Safety comes when there are no weapons,” teacher Salwa Lamir told AFP as she held a banner reading: “No weapons in Tripoli.”

“We’re protesting against weapons and people using weapons. I want the militias who came from outside Tripoli to leave. They have to go back to their homes and continue with their studies,” she said.

Around her the crowd chanted, “The people want safety!”

Libya’s attorney general said armed gunmen dragged him from his car in broad daylight in Tripoli, threatening to kill him if he didn’t let one of their friends out of jail.

The blatant attack on one of the highest legal authorities in Libya highlights the tense security situation that has persisted in the country’s capital since Libyan revolutionaries toppled Gadhafi’s regime in August.

“Tripoli is not safe,” Attorney General Abdul-Aziz al-Hassady told the Associated Press late Tuesday, just hours after the attack by armed men.

Hassady said he was leaving work when a pickup truck with a mounted machine gun on the back blocked his way, at which point he noticed about 300 armed men in the area around the high court.

Gunmen jumped out of the pickup, dragged him from his car and demanded he release one of their friends who had been arrested on suspicion of murder, he said. Hassady said he escaped after snatching a gun from one of the attackers and pointing it at another’s head until he was able to get into a car and get away.

He said he intended to quit his job, though he had not officially informed the National Transitional Council of his resignation.

Scores of armed groups still operate unrestrained in Tripoli, Hassady added, making it harder for the new government to establish rule of law.

The Tripoli city council issued a deadline Tuesday, saying armed residents must hand in their guns before the end of the year.