Oman protests spread, road to port blocked

[Turborama]

Source: Reuters

By Jason Benham and Saleh Al-Shaibany – 1 hr 52 mins ago

SOHAR, Oman (Reuters) – Omani protesters demanding jobs and political reforms blocked roads to a main port in the north of the Gulf Arab sultanate as looters trashed a nearby supermarket on Monday, and demonstrations spread to the capital.

A doctor said six people had died in clashes between stone-throwing protesters and police on Sunday in the northern industrial town of Sohar, although Oman's health minister said only one person died and 20 were injured.

Hundreds of protesters blocked access to an industrial area that includes the port, a refinery and aluminum factory. A port spokeswoman said exports of refined oil products that typically amount to 160,000 barrels per day from the port were unaffected.

"We want to see the benefit of our oil wealth distributed evenly to the population," one protester said over a loudhailer near the port. "We want to see a scale-down of expatriates in Oman so more jobs can be created for Omanis," he yelled.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20110228/wl_nm/us_oman_protests

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Related LBN OP from yesterday posted by maddezmom: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x4750503">Oman police clash with stone-throwing protesters

ETA this map and short fact file http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-12590588">from the BBC:

SULTANATE OF OMAN

* Ruled by Al Said family since 1744
* Sandhurst-trained Sultan Qaboos seized power from father in 1970
* Population 2.9 million
* Main export is oil

[fasttense]

1. World wide unrest seems to be growing.

When the corporate aristocracy destroyed the world economy and forced upon the middle class the bills they should have paid, a revolt is inevitable. It will only get worse.

The rich better watch out.

[Robbien]

2. Oil here is so important to OPEC since the Sauds are now including Oman oil

in its pledge to increase oil exports for the lack of oil coming from Libya.

It is good to see the protesters talk about the number of expats working in Oman. It was very surprising to see the number of expats working in Libya, hundreds of thousands of them. If Libyans were hired instead perhaps the youths wouldn't have started the protests. It appears the same is the situation here in Oman.

[Arctic Dave]

3. Oil companies are notorious for not hiring locals.

It is the same for the US. Two things usually drive who gets hired, who owns the equipment and who is the cheapest labor.


Side note:
Oman is a bueatiflul country, I turned twenty there when I was in the Navy. Which happens to be twenty one years ago today.

[Turborama]

4. Happy birthday, Dave!

From one Piscean to another: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yYJPIZ-C-9c

[Arctic Dave]

5. Thanks Turborama. :)