The Italian Reforms Minister, Roberto Calderoli, stood down a day after the riots.

He had been urged to go by Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.

Calderoli said he had decided to hand in his resignation "out of a sense of responsibility and certainly not because it was demanded by the government and the opposition".

In the Libyan capital, Tripoli, a statement from the parliamentary secretariat earlier condemnded police actions against the rioters and said responsible officials would be investigated.

"Those who have a relation to the incident and are responsible for security in Benghazi have been suspended and referred to investigations, " the statement said.

It declared Sunday a day of mourning for "our martyr sons".

At least 10 people died in a six-hour riot on Friday outside the Italian consulate in Benghazi, where more than 1,000 demonstrators gathered in an angry protest, apparently in reaction to the Italian minister's decision to wear the satirical T-shirt.

The crowd hurled rocks and bottles before storming the compound and setting fire to the building and cars parked nearby. Police with Kalashnikov rifles fired live ammunition and tear gas to disperse them.

Calderoli had previously resisted calls for his resignation. Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi had called for him to resign on Friday, while Italian Foreign Minister Gianfranco Fini quickly scheduled a visit to Rome's main mosque yesterday, saying he wanted "to reaffirm that we respect every religion, and we expect identical respect", according the ANSA and Apcom news agencies.

Calderoli, a member of the anti-immigrant Northern League Party, showed off the T-shirt under his suit last week during an appearance on Italian state television.

This was widely publicised in Libya, a former Italian colony.

His stand embarrassed Italy's centre-right government, which is campaigning for April general elections.

In an interview with Italian newspaper La Repubblica, Calderoli said he had declined a previous plea to resign from Berlusconi last week.

Under the Italian constitution, the prime minister does not have the power to sack ministers.

In comments reported by another newspaper, Corriere della Sera, Calderoli had said he would resign only if Northern League leader Umberto Bossi asked him to do so, and "after receiving a signal from the Islamic world that such a gesture would be useful".

Foreign Minister Fini, who had appealed on Thursday to Calderoli to avoid provoking Muslims, blamed his fellow minister for the violence in Libya.