Unable to calm the hot-heads, he could do little but plead for the law to be respected.
So pray to Jesus, Mary's son, Mary, Mother of God, for grace; we'd mothers too, and now we're done, don't cry us down, but plead our case.
They reward top executives with fat salaries and bonuses but plead poverty when it comes to raises for employees, even though they are working harder than ever.
The banks admit they messed up, but plead for a new regulatory system that is consistent across borders and flexible enough to allow innovation.
Turkey, Syria and Iran have all harnessed the headwaters that flow into the Tigris and Euphrates and ultimately into the Shatt al Arab, leaving Iraqi officials with little to do but plead for them to release more from their modern networks of dams.
In two of them, the colonel's home town of Sirte, along the main coast road, and Bani Walid, 160km (100 miles) south-east of Tripoli, tribal elders seem keen to capitulate but plead for more time to persuade the colonel's diehard supporters to give up.
