RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
Communications with the Libyan capital have been difficult, but last night we reached Naser Edeeb on Skype. He's a businessman in Tripoli. He says he's in a news vacuum.
Mr. NASER EDEEB (Businessman): We couldn't, you know, use our cell phones. And it's sort of like you felt like you're living in a big city, meanwhile you're isolated to the world.
MONTAGNE: Yesterday he got a text from the government to report to work. On the way, he stopped by the hospital to donate blood. He said the city was eerily quiet. The burned cars and army tanks he'd seen the day before were gone.
Mr. EDEEB: So when I drove out and I saw the situation, it's just like nothing happened. Everything's been cleaned. And the worst(ph) thing, it's really confusing here in Tripoli, where the dead body goes. Nobody knows where they are.
MONTAGNE: Naser Edeeb has a well-paying job. He says he's done well financially, but Gadhafi's reign has ruined the country's reputation. He's tired of feeling embarrassed, he says, about his homeland.
Mr. EDEEB: I travel a lot. I've seen the world. And it can at times, that if somebody asks me where I'm from, I don't say I'm a Libyan.
MONTAGNE: Instead he tells people he's from Tripoli, Lebanon - which, by the way, does exist. Though today he says he's not embarrassed. Naser Edeeb says he's joining the protestors.
It's MORNING EDITION. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.