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(AFP)
MUSCAT — Omani police shot dead a protester on Friday in the port of Sohar, north of Muscat when they opened fire to disperse demonstrators demanding the release of prisoners, witnesses told AFP.
It was the second death in the port during the current wave of unrest sweeping across the region, after police killed a protester at the end of February in Sohar, an industrial area some 200 kilometres (124 miles) north of the capital Muscat, particularly badly hit by unemployment.
Police tried to disperse a crowd of protestors who were hurling stones at them and fired on the crowd when the victim was hit, a witness said.
"Dozens of Omanis emerged from mosques in Sohar after Friday prayers to protest and demand the release of jailed relatives" detained during protests earlier this week, one witness said.
"One protester, Khalifa al-Alawi, was hit in the head by a bullet during confrontations with the police and died immediately," the witness said.
Shortly afterwards, the army was deployed in the town to restore order.
On Tuesday the Omani army stormed the Earth roundabout in Sohar, removing a small group of pro-reform protesters and ending a month-long sit-in, witnesses said. The roundabout has become the symbol of protest after the earlier killing of a demonstrator near a police station in the town.
Sohar has been the scene of sit-ins this week, and last Sunday demonstrators pressed public sector workers in the city to go on strike in protest against corruption.
The normally peaceful sultanate has been caught up the general upheaval and protest movement in the Arab world, with people taking to the streets to demonstrate for better living conditions, forcing ruler Sultan Qaboos to bow to pressure and announce a cabinet reshuffle and the creation of 50,000 jobs at the start of March.
But demonstrators in Oman have insisted all along that their protest was aimed at "corrupt" officials, not at Qaboos himself, who has ruled the sultanate for 40 years.
In addition, the Gulf Cooperation Council has set up a 20-billion-dollar development fund for Oman and Bahrain, the two Gulf monarchies worst hit by the crisis.
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