Two thousand people took to the streets of Benghazi on Friday to protest against Islamist militants and former rebel militias who have been fighting armed forces and taken over an important military base in the eastern Libyan city.

The heavy clashes in Benghazi and the capital Tripoli over the past two weeks have been the worst since the 2011 fall of Muammar Gaddafi, killing more than 200 people and forcing most Western governments to pull their diplomats out of the North African state.

The battle in Benghazi has pitted Islamist militants and militias against special forces who have joined ranks with a renegade former army officer, Khalifa Haftar, who had vowed to oust militants from the city.

While Haftar initially gained support from some Libyans weary of militant attacks and assassinations, he has failed to make significant gains. Critics dismiss him as a power-hungry, former Gaddafi ally.

The military operations aim to put an end to armed outlaw groups and bring back the state's control of all the Libyan institutions," Mohamed Ghariani, a spokesman for the Misrata forces trying to take back the airport from the Zintan brigades, told reporters.

Both Zintan and Misrata brigades claim legitimacy as state forces. They have stockpiles of Gaddafi-era weapons, and have allied themselves with competing political factions in Libya.