Saturday 26 February 2011

Oman: The People Want an End to Corrpution · Global Voices

Oman: The People Want an End to Corrpution

“The people want an end to corruption” chanted thousands of Omanis, who have been protesting since Friday in Salalah and Sohar, as well as other parts of Oman.

Last week's similar - but smaller protests in Sohar and Muscat - have brought about a cabinet reshuffle today, where Oman's Sultan Qaboos bin Said changed six ministers. The announcement was made today but that didn't seem to stop the wave of protesters who have gathered to demand more rights over the previous two days.

According to Dhofari Gucci, who blogs from Salalah, the protesters demands are as follows:

What demands? They want the following from His Majesty the Sultan:
.
(1) An end to corruption in the government
(2) More jobs for people in need
(3) increase in salaries for the poor, widows and divorced women
(4) Lowering prices
(5) An end to financial and administrative wasta (influence/nepotism) in the government and private sector
(6) And other demands.

She continues:

Evidently protests have erupted in Sur, Sohar, Shinas, and more in Muscat. What is going on in the Arab world?!!

Tweets:

Following are reactions on the protests, as well eye witness accounts on the ground, from Twitter: Evidently protests have erupted in Sur, Sohar, Shinas, and more in Muscat. What is going on in the Arab world?!!

Videos:

This video, from khawar107, shows protesters in Salalah last night chanting for an end of corruption:

And this video, from sohar9999, shows scenes from today's protests in Sohar: