Protesters stage oil-field sit-in in Oman

Protests demanding economic reforms by Oman’s ruler have reached a key oil region in Oman, Government officials said.

Workers staged a sit-in today at a main oil field in Haima, about 300 miles south-west of the capital Muscat, demanding more state investments in the area.

Demonstrations flared last week in tightly ruled Oman by protesters seeking jobs and a greater political voice. One demonstrator was killed.

Oman’s ruler, Sultan Qaboos bin Said, ordered 50,000 new civil service jobs. The measure failed to halt sit-ins in Muscat and the northern industrial city of Sohar, where the unrest began.

In Yemen, tens of thousands are continuing with protests in several key cities, pressing on with demands that the country’s president step down.

The government has suspended classes at the universities in the capital Sanaa and the southern port city of Aden, which have been the focal points for daily demonstrations – inspired by the uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia – against President Ali Abdullah Saleh.

The protesters are rallying on the main squares of Sanaa, Aden, and the cities of Taiz and Hadramawt. They are also demanding an investigation into the killing of four people during yesterday’s protest in the northern town of Harf Sofyan.

Several members of Saleh’s ruling Congress Party resigned today.

Saleh has been a key US ally in the campaign against al-Qaida.