Alive by day, Tripoli is ghost town at night

At night the Libyan capital is a ghost town where residents cower indoors fearful of strongman Muammar Gaddafi’s militias and cut off from deadly battles that rage across the country.

But during the past week, since Gaddafi loyalists regained control of several cities from the rebel forces, Tripoli has begun to recapture a sense of normality with schools, banks and shops reopening.

Buoyed by anti-regime protests that erupted in mid-February, some of the city’s residents had dared to take to the streets to demonstrate at the end of that month, only to be met by a violent crackdown by Col Gaddafi’s forces.

Fearful of repercussions, they now remain indoors, going out only after dawn to buy basic necessities such as bread, or fill their cars up with gasoline at petrol stations.

“It was as if we were in the grips of an undeclared curfew” after the crackdown on protests, said one resident who declined to be named.

“People went out in the morning to shop but in the afternoon no one dared go out. In some neighbourhoods, Gaddafi militiamen opened fire on anything that moved.”

Calls by authorities urging civil servants to return to work went unheeded as residents had expected rebels fighting Gaddafi forces in the east to flow into the capital, while several regime cohorts defected to the insurgency.

“In the first days (of the revolt), children did not go to school but this past week classes have resumed,” said Malika, the principal of a school in the Ban Ben Ghesher neighbourhood.

Several shops have also reopened along Omar al-Mukhtar avenue which leads to the emblematic Green Square, where Col Gaddafi has made several appearances since the start of the uprising to address loyalists.

Boutiques selling mostly Chinese-made clothes and a popular supermarket in Souk Thulatha have reopened for business.

Dreaded traffic jams have returned to clog streets in some neighbourhoods and long queues are once again forming in banks across Tripoli.

In a bid to placate citizens, the government decided to allocate 500 dinars ($400) to families each month.

But Tripoli is short on cash and the central bank had to reissue bank notes which had been removed from circulation several years ago.

In banks, the dollar still trades at 1.25 dinars but, on the black market, the exchange rate varies between 1.7 dinars and two dinars.

But the rhythm of life is still slow in Tripoli, where most hotels, restaurants and businesses remain shuttered because of a lack of supplies and because expatriate staff have fled fearing the outbreak of a civil war.

Many countries have evacuated their citizens from Libya and oil giants have also pulled their staff out and stopped operations.

Checkpoints manned by soldiers ring the city from the east and west, crippling cross-city traffic.

“If you leave the city you will find the army, soldiers, manning checkpoints on the eastern and western outskirts,” said a resident.

“They search cars and ask people where they are coming from and where they are going to.

“I came from Al-Jabal, in the southeast, and was stopped by 50 checkpoints.”

Col Gaddafi’s militiamen rule the streets at night, cruising in four-wheel-drive vehicles and setting up checkpoints.

After dark, the posh avenue of Gargaresh – where Libyans can shop for the latest in fashion as well as stop in US-style fast-food eateries – is deserted.

Gone are the scenes of young men cruising in their sleek cars until the early hours of the day with music blasting.

“When foreign firms were here there was a huge demand for fish,” said Salem, a businessman.

“Where are these firms? There is no more demand (for fish). What can we do? Lower the prices, or throw the fish back into the sea?” he asks in exasperation.