SOHAR – Fresh clashes erupted between Omani police and protesters on Monday, a day after police killed at least one as the turmoil rocking the Arab world reached the normally calm Gulf sultanate. Hundreds of demonstrators stormed a police station in the key industrial area of Sohar, northwest of the capital Muscat, and police responded by firing tear gas.
There were no immediate reports of casualties in the clashes that broke out near Earth Roundabout, a key intersection on the main road to the capital, where deadly violence erupted on Sunday, an AFP correspondent reported. The protesters, who are demanding jobs and political reform, continued to man roadblocks around Sohar despite the announcement by the authorities of new benefits for the jobless and more powers for an elected advisory council.
The protesters have been keeping a vigil at Earth Roundabout for three straight days, defying police efforts to remove them. Some 700 protesters also blocked access to the town’s port — Oman’s second biggest — Monday, preventing the movement of vehicles in or out, an AFP correspondent reported.
They seized several trucks with which they blocked the entrance. The protesters called for “the trial of all ministers” and “the abolition of all taxes,” including taxes on health care and on lands offered by the state. There were conflicting reports on the death toll from Sunday’s clashes.
A security official had told AFP on Sunday that police killed two people and wounded about five others when they fired rubber bullets and tear gas at demonstrators attacking a police station near the roundabout. The protesters gave a higher toll. “I saw five killed at the police station yesterday,” said one of them, 25-year-old Abdullah al-Meqbali.
A govt spokesman cited by the state ONA news agency said on Monday that only one person was killed, and Health Minister Ahmed al-Saeedi gave the same figure in an interview with the Al-Jazeera satellite channel. He said a second person had survived despite suffering a bullet wound to the stomach.
ONA news agency said rioting had begun at dawn on Saturday and continued on Sunday. It said several govt and privately owned cars had been torched. The protesters also set fire to the governor’s house in Sohar, more than 200 kilometres from the capital, and an AFP correspondent said a shopping mall had been torched.
