Tripoli (Libya), Sep. 2 : Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi celebrated 40 years in power with a huge open-air event including 400 dancers, acrobats and gruesome mock hangings.

According to The Sun, the event was lit up by an eerie green light, and is his stooges faked being "corpses" on wooden gallows.

It was meant to depict Italian soldiers executing Libyans during the colonial occupation of 1911.

Other acts at the start of a week of celebrations included white-robed men riding horseback while standing.

Visiting African heads of state including Zimbabwe''''s tyrant leader Robert Mugabe were entertained at a military base outside Tripoli in the early hours. (ANI)