Protesters stage rally in Oman\'s Salalah and Sur

Omani citizens, continuing their sit-ins in Salalah and Sur, took out marches in the two cities after Friday prayers as hundreds of demonstrators joined in. In southern parts of Oman for the second Friday in succession a huge rally was taken out. \"We had over 1,500 people in the rally that started from our sit-in square in front of the governor’s Office and went past the Central Salalah Square, past the Salalah Police Station and returned to the place of sit-in,” an activist, who preferred not to be named, told Gulf News. A banner in English in the rally read \'We want freedom\'. The activists in Oman are demanding freedom of expression following blockade of some of the forum sites that by the local telecom operators. The demonstrators were asking for a probe against charges of corruption against some of the high officials among other demands. A resident of Salalah said that the march was peaceful and a large number of people attended. He also praised the security agencies in handling the whole situation prudently. Activists in Salalah have been staging sit-ins outside the Governor’s office since the end of February along with sit-ins at Muscat and Sohar. The sit-ins in Sohar have ended and normalcy has returned to this industrial port town since beginning of this month when post Friday prayer protests turned violent and one person died. The army took control after that brought the situation under control and also ended all sit-ins. The protests in Oman started in January when about 200 people took out peaceful rally in a restricted area in Al Khuwair district of Muscat. The protests, largely peaceful, then spread to Sohar, Salalah, Sur and Shinaz and Ibri. The country’s monarch Sultan Qaboos Bin Saeed responded to the demand, positively by reshuffling the entire Council of Ministers, raising salaries, announcing 50,000 jobs for young Omanis, raising pensions and also declared 150 Omani riyals unemployment allowance. Some of the citizens held on charges of rioting were pardoned by the Sultan. However, some of the activists are still demanding freedom of expression, more reforms and release of those still held after Sohar protests. Today, people in Sur in the eastern region also took out a rally but not in as big number as Salalah. No further details about the Sur rally were available.