Photo: Iason Foounten

A crowd of demonstrators protest the ongoing use of weapons by rebel militias inside Tripoli (file photo).

Benghazi — Protesters demanding greater autonomy for eastern Libya have ransacked the offices of Libya's electoral authority in Benghazi, witnesses say.

About 300 men carried computers and ballot boxes from the building in Libya's second city and began crushing them while chanting pro-federalism slogans, a Reuters correspondent at the scene said.

The violence follows a series of security breaches in the coastal city, which was the cradle of last year's uprising that ended Muammar Gadhafi's 42-year rule, adding to concerns of how safe Libya's first free national elections on July 7 will be.

Libya is to elect a new parliament on Saturday, in the first democratic polls since the ousting of Muammar Gadhafi.