Witnesses said about 20 people of Libyan descent and Libyan officials were meeting for a gathering celebrating Ramadan when some activists raised the rebels' flag, triggering a clash between those for and against the ouster of Moamer Qadhafi from Libya.

"We raised the flag of independence, and we left," said Abdala al-Hamadi, who participated in the incident.

A spokesman for the military police standing guard in front of the embassy said an "incident with people from the opposition" had forced Ambassador Salem Ezubedi and his family to leave.

According to police, the embassy's occupants agreed to leave the building peacefully. A foreign ministry spokesman told AFP the ambassador was well and the embassy had been secured.

The embassy, under Ezubedi, has remained loyal to the Qadhafi regime.

Copyright AFP (Agence France-Presse), 2011