A snippet from a "man in the street" in Tripoli, this is from a forum with which I have been engaged since the beginning:

"Yesterday evening my friend and work associate came to see me out of the blue. He had been incommunicado for three weeks. He had been in Libya and was fighting with the ff [freedom fighters aka rebels] just as Tripoli was taken back.

Some things of note.

He said that Tripoli has already become very quiet now. Right after it was taken back the guns were firing constantly in celebration. He said now the only time he heard any gunfire was for an hour after Libya beat Mozambique in football.

He said I wouldn't believe what Tripoli is like now. Everyone is smiling, inviting people, strangers to come in for food or lodging, women walking alone on the streets without head coverings in the middle of the night (just like the old days).

I asked him about the threat of an reactionary Islamic movement. He told me trha tthere was no one other than a few fighters that wanted an Islamic movement to take power. He said that Bilhaj was being eyed with suspicion by the tripolitanians. He was restricted to the city but, the NTC withdrew its call for the brigades to return to their homes after they decided it was a good insurance policy against Bilhaj. Bilhaj's forces it should bbe remarked numbered only between 5 and 700. My friends brother who was with the Zintan brigade (even though he is from Tripoli) was one of three and his numbered 1200 (responsible for airport security). I asked if there was problems with these brigades in Tripoli. He said no that they were given food and shelter when necessary and being treated as heros still. He said that it will be better when they start using the new Qatari police vehicles for patrols instead of the armed pick-up trucks but that securoity was not seeming to be an issue at all.

Asking more about Bihaj, he said that three containers of weapons (ammo mostly) were said to have been Bilhaj's on the way to Tripoli so they were detained and are being held back, This raised suspicion on Bilhaj and so the various brigades throughout Tripoli have ben assigned checkpoints throughout the city to ensure that they can keep an eye on his movements and activities. He was absolutely firm that there were no Libyans that wanted to go from Ghaddafi to a bunch of fanatics. Something I had always believed too. He said even uneducated people he spoke to didn't want them."