An update.

Update: The road border at Wajajah (commonly referred to as the UAE side, Hatta, is currently closed - no road traffic in or out at the moment.

Another Update: The British Ambassador and Vice Consul are travelling to Sohar today to meet members of the British and un-represented Commonwealth community.  Our travel advice remains in effect stating that 'you should maintain a high level of security awareness, particularly in public places. You should avoid large gatherings and demonstrations.'  

Traffic jams are occurring around the Port area and Globe roundabout.  No western interests are being targeted by demonstrators.

If you are in the Sohar area and wish to meet with the British Ambassador and Vice Consul they will be at the Sohar Beach hotel by 18:00 (6pm) tonight. 

Well it seems like there was another night of antics up in Sohar, but nothing on the same scale as before - the picture above is actually from the night before, Sunday night.

Many people have received a text message from the following number: +968 9400 4048. The message is below in both Arabic, and Google Translate's best attempt at English. Note that this is not an official message from the Government and is not to be taken as such. This is just a speculative rumour at this point.

Arabic:
لا يا شباب ندائي لكم جميعا لا تنخدعوا مثلما انخدعت و انخدع غيري بأن المظاهرة في صحار ليست بريئة فهي مدفوعة من الخارج و إلا لما يصرون على تقطيع أوصال اقتصادنا باستهداف الميناء و المنطقة الصناعية و قطع الطرق ، الحذر الحذر. نعم نختلف في بعض الأمور مع الحكومة و لكن لا يمكن المساس بالمقومات و إلا سندفع الثمن غاليا، نعم هذه المظاهرة مدفوعة من الإماراتيين، أقول بعض الجهات الرسمية فيها و ليس الشعب، شعب الإمارا يتألم ما يحصل في عمان من تخريب

English:
No, my appeal to all of you young people do not be fooled just as deceived and deceived others that the demonstration in Sohar is not innocent they are paid from abroad and only to insist on the dismemberment of our economy by targeting the port and industrial area and cut off roads, so beware. Yes we disagree on some things with the government, but can not be jeopardizing and only pay the price dearly, Yes, this demonstration was driven from UAE, I would say some of the official and not the people, the people of Ar suffer what is happening in Amman from sabotage


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An Anonymous commenter (at 8:35pm last night) on the previous blog post, they described their journey from Dubai to Muscat via Hatta, its well worth a read, I've pasted it here:
Anonymous said...

I returned to Oman from the UAE (via the Hatta border) and came through Shinas roundabout at exactly 12noon today (monday). I really had to ring around when I was in the UAE to see if I could make it back safe with my wife and two toddlers in the car. We were very concerned, but HAD to get back to Muscat ASAP, so we made the decision to proceed. Speaking to a car dealership representative in Sohar, he suggested I get to the Safeer well before the Globe, and hook left at that roundabout, run parallel to the highway and get back on just before the Sohar gate.

As we entered Shinas, the roundabout was on fire - tyres in a pile being burnt in two spots.
 
What we were not prepared for was the roundabout before the Safeer! The road leading to the port was blocked, and all entry and exits into the R/A were blocked by trucks (with bricks chocking their tyres). There were at least 500 people, most wearing balaclavas and head scarfs shielding their faces/identities. It was extremely frightening. They tried to stop us, and we ploughed through. I managed to squeeze past a hilux that was blocking the entry, and drove straight up to a truck blocking our exit. I mounted the curb to exit the roundabout on the sidewalk, heading towards muscat.
 
There was ABSOLUTELY NO police presence ANYWHERE! We got to the Safeer, hooked into the inside road, and Military were everywhere - especially in front of the ministry buildings behind the university. All of the petrol stations were closing, but we managed to refuel with a black-smoke-belching Lulu in the near distance.
 
Once we made it onto the highway (near the Sohar gate) at approximately 1:30pm we saw at least 50 armoured vehicles traveling from Muscat towards Sohar. No police, just military. Fire trucks, water trucks - water canons? big guns and about 20 buses with riot police. Then what looked like a delegation and more armoured vehicles. It was endless.
 
We made it back, but their seem to be so many conflicting reports. Some saying stone throwing at expats etc.. All we had was what I described above. We are clearly expats, and we were not attacked. We were, however, very very scared trying to get through to Muscat.
 
There is a serious military presence at the Hatta border.
February 28, 2011 8:35 PM 


However, this morning things seem to be much calmer. There are conflicting reports coming from Sohar this morning, and so it's hard to say what is actually going on. Here are the facts (few at the moment!):

• Regular commuter traffic is virtually non-existent this morning in Sohar.
• It appears that some roundabouts (or just the round about by the Sohar Port) is still blocked.
• Today at 4pm a Pro Sultan parade of support is planned at the Sulatan Qaboos Mosque.
• The Minister of Health, Ahmed Al Saidi, reports only 1 death, un-named hospital workers report 6 deaths.
• It is business as usual here in Muscat so far.

I'd like to comment on something now.... The Omani Rial is pegged to the US $. As the US $ has been declining in the world market, the cost of consumables has increased, which has increased the cost of living here in Oman through no fault of the Government here. So what $1 could buy 2 years ago, you now need more than $1. This increase is tracked as inflation and we're seeing it reported in the 5-10% range. Something that I've yet to see discussed on any of the news outlets. 


In other news, Oman thrashed Iraq 11-3 in their group match at the FIFA beach soccer World Cup Asia Qualifier - well done boys! Also, if you havent already, please feel free to enter my competition to win 2 free tickets to the 30 Seconds to Mars concert on March 10th.


le fin.