The battle for the rebel-held western Libyan town of Zawiyah was undecided yesterday, escapees reported, while state television said residents were staging a mass demonstration in support of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi.

An official trip to the town for Tripoli-based journalists, who have been repeatedly turned away in efforts to reach there in previous days, was announced then cancelled without explanation.

“The revolutionaries control the centre of Zawiyah and Gaddafi’s forces are surrounding it. It’s 50-50,” a long-term Moroccan resident said after crossing the border into Tunisia.

Libyan government spokesman Mussa Ibrahim insisted: “Zawiyah is under the control of the army but there are still pockets of violence. There have been celebrations for hours.”

State television reported that “massive demonstrations” were taking place in the centre of Zawiyah in favour of Colonel Gaddafi.

“The crowds in Zawiyah have come out on to the main square in solidarity with our brother, the leader of the revolution,” said the television, which has previously reported government successes that were belied on the ground.

It showed pictures of crowds shouting and waving green flags, which it said came from Zawiyah.

Giving his name as Rachid, the 48-year-old shopkeeper had fled Zawiyah 150 kilometres away a few hours beforehand with his wife and four daughters.

“There was no one in the streets, the town is completely deserted, and there are snipers on the roofs,” he said, adding that he did not know which side they were on.

“There is no telephone and no internet.”

“Zawiyah’s like Somalia, bang, bang, bang,” added another Moroccan standing behind Rachid who also fled yesterday.

Zawiyah, a prosperous dormitory town 40 kilometres west of Tripoli, has been under assault for several days by Col Gaddafi’s forces using artillery and tanks.

“This morning around 10 o’clock as we were leaving we heard firing some way away,” Rachid said. “Yesterday it was worse with shooting and bombing.”

On Sunday, he added, after three days of fierce fighting, a shell had landed on his house, making a hole a metre across in one wall.

The flight to Tunisia cost the family the equivalent of €350 for the taxi and around €50 at each of the six military checkpoints between Zawiyah and the border.

They had also been stopped several times near Zawiyah by rebels who demanded a password given to their driver as he left town.

Tahar Souifi, a Tunisian from Tripoli, said his driver had not dared to go through Zawiyah as it was too dangerous, but he had heard shooting in the distance and seen a police station that had been totally wrecked.

His companion, Mohammed Saidi, said at one checkpoint a Libyan army colonel ordered them to get out of the car to clear a blazing garbage bin from the road.

When they refused the colonel threatened them with a Kalashnikov, Mr Saidi said, showing burns on his hands.

Meanwhile Libyan oil output is down by more than two-thirds from 1.6 million barrels per day to just 500,000 amid the uprising against Muammar Gaddafi’s regime, National Oil Corporation boss Shukri Ghanem said yesterday.

“Of course, the production is down drastically, or it is only half a million a day down from 1.6 million a day,” Mr Ghanem, who is both chairman and CEO of the state-owned firm, told a news conference.

The more than three week old uprising in Libya has left important oil fields in the east in rebel hands.

Heavy fighting on the battleground central section of the Mediterranean coast has left a string of key oil pipelines and installations in flames.