Activists from pro-Kremlin youth groups are protesting the Western-led military operation in Libya outside several Western embassies in Moscow.

A military operation against Libya's strongman Muammar Gaddafi, who has ruled the country with an iron fist for more than 40 years, began on Saturday, involving the United States, Britain, France, Italy, Canada and other countries.

Members of the Nashi and Stal (Steel) movements set up pickets in front of the British, French and U.S. embassies and the NATO mission in Moscow.

"Innocent people have already been killed in this massacre, and we demand that the West stop interfering in Libya's sovereignty and cease attacks on its citizens," Stal leader Oleg Sokolov told RIA Novosti.

"We are certainly not trying to support the Gaddafi regime, but it is clear that the West's real intention is not to bring democracy to Libya," Sokolov said.

Libyan television has reported that at least 50 civilians have been killed and over 150 wounded in the UN strikes and that many health and education facilities have been destroyed.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon was attacked by protesters angry about the military intervention as he left a meeting of the Arab League in Cairo earlier on Monday.

MOSCOW, March 21 (RIA Novosti)