Those living in the capital say they are exhausted by power cuts, price hikes and a lack of cash flow as rival authorities and militias battle for control of the fragmented oil-rich country.
"I hate to say it but our life was better under the previous regime," says Fayza al-Naas, a 42-year-old pharmacist, referring to Kadhafi’s more than four decades of rule.
Today, "we wait for hours outside banks to beg cashiers to give us some of our own money. Everything is three times more expensive."
A UN-backed unity government has struggled to assert its authority nationwide since arriving in Tripoli in March, with a rival parliament in the country’s far east refusing to cede power to it.
On Friday it suffered a new blow when a rival seized key offices in the capital and proclaimed the reinstatement of a third administration previously based in Tripoli.
The turmoil after Kadhafi’s 2011 fall has allowed the Islamic State group to gain a foothold on Europe’s doorstep after seizing the strongman’s hometown of Sirte in June last year.