Sultan Qaboos Bin Said Al-Said of Oman (Creative Commons).

Protests across Oman were swiftly dispersed Tuesday after spreading from the nation's industrial center in Sohar to the Strait of Hormuz and Muscat.

The protestors were blockading the port demanding higher pay, more jobs and the departure of several senior ministers. Unlike other protestors in the Middle East, those in Oman are not demanding a change in government.

“The Omanis love the Sultan and respect and consider him a father to them,” one commentator wrote on the protest’s Facebook page 'March 2 Uprisings for Dignity and Freedom'. The page has over 2,300 users, according to the New York Times.  

“We don’t live in fear. All we want are jobs, better salaries and economic reforms,” another Facebook commenter wrote, according to the New York Times. 

In hopes of diffusing tension, Omani Sultan Qaboos bin Said promised 50,000 jobs, unemployment benefits of $390 a month and an increase in power for the nation's quasi-parliamentary advisory council on Sunday, according to the New York Times. Sultan Qaboos bin Said also gave more power and independence to the public prosecutor and ordered the creation of an independent consumer protection watchdog to monitor domestic prices on common goods.

The blockade prevented workers and goods from entering Sohar industrial port for much of the day.

The decreased number of protestors came after troops fired into the air to clear the protests, wounding one. This was the first time the government intervened in protests, even though troops had been deployed beforehand, according to the Irish Times.

“We were about 200 to 300 people on the road. The army started shooting in the air,” one protester, who declining to be named, told the Irish Times. “Many people ran. The man who was shot [had] come to calm the army down.”

After government troops fired, the crowd dispersed, allowing traffic to flow freely in the port which exports roughly 160,000 barrels of refined oil products per day, according to the Irish Times. Some protestors regrouped nearby.

Western management was moved from Sohar to the capitol of Muscat as a precautionary measure, but returned yesterday with the exception of Dutch families.

In Muscat, about 200 people gathered in silent protest of violence in front of the Shura Council, the elected Omani advisory body’s facility, asking for political and economic reforms.

A different group of 2,000 gathered at a mosque in Muscat to show support of Sultan Qaboos bin Said and blamed violence on the protesters.

Protests also spread to the Strait of Hormuz, the mouth of the most important oil thoroughfare in the world, according to the Wall Street Journal. The Strait of Hormuz controls action to energy produced in the Persian Gulf.

Oman is largely known as a tranquil Gulf state, according to the New York Times. It has been ruled by Sultan Qaboos bin Said for four decades. He exercises absolute control over the country and political parties are banned.

Despite the country’s tranquil image, protests have broken out there as in many other Middle East countries.

Oman is a non-OPEC oil exporter and has strong ties with the U.S.

The nation iis of strategic importance to the U.S. because it faces Iran across the Arabian Sea, according to the Irish Times. 

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