Reporting from Cairo — A defiant Libyan strongman Moammar Kadafi vowed Tuesday not to resign and denounced the anti-government protesters who have challenged his regime as “greasy rats” and “drug-fueled mice” who deserve to be executed.

“These gangs are cockroaches,” he said. “They’re nothing. They’re not one percent of the Libyan people.”

In a lengthy address on state TV, Kadafi, who has ruled since 1969, stood in the ruins of a barracks in Tripoli that was bombed by U.S. warplanes in 1986. He waved his fist and shouted, vowing to die a martyr and urging his supporters to rise up to help the military crush the popular uprising.

The U.N. Security Council called an emergency meeting as Libya descended into further chaos Tuesday amid reports that Kadafi’s regime used warplanes, helicopter gunships and foreign mercenaries against mounting anti-government protests, witnesses and diplomats said.

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