Updated at 09:20

AT LEAST 200 PEOPLE have now been killed in Libya after the military viciously cracked down on protesters taking part in anti-government protests over the past number of days.

Protesters are reported to have taken control of the eastern city Benghazi and have stormed state television headquarters, Press TV reports.

Meanwhile, Reuters reports that a central government building in the Libyan capital Tripoli has been set alight.

Helicopter gunships reportedly fired on demonstrators during a funeral procession last night, and a doctor in the city’s al-Jalal hospital estimated that the death toll may have risen as high as 300 – with many casualties suffering from gunshot wounds to the head and chest, reports the Irish Times.

Last night protests, which had been focused in the second city of Benghazi, spread to the capital Tripoli as crowds chanted and called for the fall of the regime, reports the BBC.

In an address to the nation late last night, Muammar Gadaffi’s son, Sayf al-Islam, warned the country was on the verge of a civil war in which thousands could die. He admitted that the military had overreacted but said that the death toll was lower than was being reported in the foreign media – and blamed separatists, Islamists and drug addicts for the unrest.

He also and said that the government would be prepared to agree on some political reforms, and that Gaddafi would call a national assembly within 48 hours to begin drafting a new constitution, reports Al Jazeera. Sayf Gaddafi said that his father would fight the protesters “until the last man standing”.