After leading the coup which overthrew King Idris (1890–1983) in 1969, he gained power as chairman of the revolutionary council and established the Libyan Arab Republic. As self-appointed head of state Gaddafi pursued an anti-colonial policy at home, expelling foreigners from Libya and seeking to establish an Islamic Socialist regime. He was accused of supporting international terrorism and was involved in a number of conflicts with the West, as also with neighbouring Arab countries. However, in 2003–04 he reduced his hostility to the West and renounced Libya’s plans to develop weapons of mass destruction. From 1979 he held no formal post, although he had the ceremonial title ‘leader of the revolution’. Following the Arab Spring uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt, popular protest against his regime began in February 2011, most effectively in Benghazi. With UN-approved NATO aerial protection, the protesters resisted military attack from the regime’s troops. In August 2011 Tripoli fell and in October Gaddafi was killed, in disputed circumstances, as his final bastion of Sirte was overwhelmed.