Feb 23 (Reuters) - Here are some quotes from witnesses to events in Libya as they unfold.
* AT THE EGYPTIAN BORDER
"I fled. Gaddafi is killing the people, why should I stay? We will die if we stay. He gave the people 24 hours to stop the protesters," said Mahmoud Hadiya, 28, a builder who has been working for 18 months in Libya.
"I packed my bags as soon as his speech was over. To die in our country is better than to die there. I will try to find a job in Egypt," he said referring to Gaddafi's defiant speech on Tuesday evening.
BENGHAZI:
"When people saw the speech they were angry and were shouting. They shouted 'No Gaddafi'. They were very agitated," said a resident of Benghazi.
"But today has been good. People are happy here, they are saying 'Benghazi is free'."
Workers drank tea at a rest stop in a town between Tobruk and Benghazi. They said they were not fleeing violence but were returning home because their contractual work had stopped.
Farhan Abou Moghthab, a 40-year-old Syrian, said: "It's been fine in Benghazi for about a week. There's no danger now."
* AT THE TUNISIAN BORDER WITH LIBYA:
"Militias tell people: 'If you come out at night we will kill you.' People are scared. Lots of shops are closed, a few bakeries are open," said Hamdi Chalbi, a Tunisian artist.
Several other people heading out of Libya said they had heard shooting at night.
"Lots of people are afraid to leave their homes in Tripoli and pro-Gaddafi gunmen are roaming around threatening any people who gather in groups," said Marwan Mohammed, a Tunisian.
He said he had also noticed army checkpoints in the town of Az-Zawiyah, about 50 km (30 miles) west of Tripoli.
"There are a lot of armed people in Tripoli and thieves and bandits and I am just happy to be home," a man who gave his name as Hafez said after crossing the border. "There have been no plane attacks like we have heard. It's not true."
FOREIGN NATIONALS RETURNING HOME:
"We are very happy it's over," said one passenger who arrived on Wednesday at Paris' Roissy-Charles de Gaulle airport.
"It was very sudden. Five days ago, we felt really secure. One would not have said that the situation was going to degenerate so quickly," she told Reuters Television.
FOREIGN WORKERS IN LIBYA
"We are living every day in fear of our lives as the local people are armed ... We're living a nightmare here and we've asked the British government to (get here) for days now and they're just totally ignoring us, they don't reply to emails, they've cut off the phones to Tripoli," British oil worker James Coyle told BBC radio 4 from eastern Libya.
He said he and about 300 others were cut off in a camp in eastern Libya. He did not say which company he worked for.
"Basically we've been left without any protection whatsoever."
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
