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lizziebennet · Joined: 24 May 2009 Posts: 355

Not sure if anyone would find this interesting but our town's gas supply has been disrupted since the protests started. I have seen all the gas stations closed on a number of occassions due to there being no gas available. When they do open everyone rushes to the gas station the fill up their tanks. The last time we were at a gas station (2 days ago) we were in a very long line but the gas station ran out of gas before we got to the pumps. The government claims that the protests are not affecting the country but from our experience they are affecting the availability of gas. We asked our Omani friends why there was a gas shortage and they said that it was due to the protests.

eslbear · Joined: 19 Feb 2010 Posts: 93

Nothing like that in Muscat as far as I know. With the Sohar roundabout still being used as protest central, it is affecting freight and highway traffic going through Sohar. Do you live near or after Sohar?

My friends in Muscat say that it is pretty quiet.

eslbear

Geronimo · Joined: 11 Apr 2007 Posts: 498

The general public reaction to the Sultan�s major cabinet reshuffle appears to be positive,
if the comments in the "Muscat Daily" are a sound indicator...

http://www.muscatdaily.com/Archive/Stories-Files/It-is-the-birth-of-a-new-Oman-a-historic-moment

Hopefully the start of a new era, not a new error! Smile

More background detail on developments in Muscat
are available in these 2 "Time" magazine reports...

http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2057226,00.html and
http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2057061,00.html

Geronimo

lizziebennet · Joined: 24 May 2009 Posts: 355

I live 1 hour away on the UAE/Oman border.

The last time we were there was last weekend. Some of my students come from Sohar and they say that the protests are over.

However, we had to finish classes early today and some teachers did not have classes because the students from our university protested. So the feeling is still in the air.

I'll probably take a drive down there this weekend and will see if the Sohar protests truly are over.

urbanversion · Joined: 27 Jan 2011 Posts: 426

The problem is like East Germany, Romania and most of the former soviet republics, will this jasmine revolution lose it's scent so to speak, or will it get stronger...my guess is the royals in Bahrain and Saudi are smelling the coffee and they ain't liking it...

And I am not sure I would like the Sultan to step down, I kind of like being able to have a beer in Oman, walk in shorts and so on...