Editing Qaboos bin Said (section)

===2011 Omani protests===
[[File:VP Cheney Sultan Qaboos Salah Oman 2002.jpg|thumb|250px|Sultan Qaboos meets with [[United States Vice President]] [[Dick Cheney]] during Cheney's visit to the Middle East in 2002.|left]]
The [[2011 Omani protests]] were a series of protests in the [[Arab states of the Persian Gulf|Persian Gulf]] country of [[Oman]] that occurred as part of the [[revolutionary wave]] popularly known as the "[[Arab Spring]]".<ref name="CHwlP">[http://www.brecorder.com/world/global-business-a-economy/19759-oman-budget-gap-rises-to-658mn-in-q1-spending-up.html Oman budget gap rises to $658mn in Q1, spending up] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160201181718/http://www.brecorder.com/world/global-business-a-economy/19759-oman-budget-gap-rises-to-658mn-in-q1-spending-up.html |date=1 February 2016 }}. ''Business Recorder''. (10 July 2011). Retrieved 15 January 2012.</ref> The protesters demanded salary increases, lower living costs, the creation of more jobs and a reduction in corruption.{{citation needed|date=January 2020}} Protests in [[Sohar]], Oman's fifth-largest city, centered on the [[Globe Roundabout]].<ref name="bGJcv">[http://mideast.foreignpolicy.com/photos/2011/03/02/globe_roundabout_sohar_oman Globe Roundabout – Sohar, Oman | The Middle East Channel] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110711015914/http://mideast.foreignpolicy.com/photos/2011/03/02/globe_roundabout_sohar_oman |date=11 July 2011}}. Mideast.foreignpolicy.com. Retrieved 28 March 2011.</ref> The Sultan's responses included the dismissal of a third of the governing cabinet.<ref name="09ILI">{{Cite web|url=https://www.khaleejtimes.com/region/qaboos-fires-10-ministers|title=Qaboos fires 10 ministers|first=Ravindra|last=Nath|website=Khaleej Times}}</ref>

According to [[CBS News]], 19 June 2011, <blockquote>Several protest leaders have been detained and released in rolling waves of arrests during the Arab Spring, and dissatisfaction with the state of affairs in the country is high. While disgruntlement amongst the populace is obvious, the extreme dearth of foreign press coverage and lack of general press freedom there leaves it unclear as to whether the protesters want the sultan to leave, or simply want their government to function better. Beyond the recent protests, there is concern about succession in the country, as there is no heir apparent or any clear legislation on who may be the next Sultan.<ref name="cbsnews.com">{{cite news| url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/the-worlds-enduring-dictators/ |title=The world's enduring dictators: Qaboos bin Said, Oman}}</ref></blockquote>
The Sultan did give token concession to protesters yet detained social media activists. In August 2014, The Omani writer and human rights defender Mohammed Alfazari, the founder and editor-in-chief of the e-magazine Mowatin "Citizen", disappeared after going to the police station in the Al-Qurum district of Muscat, only to be pardoned some time later.<ref name="gaXlf">{{Cite web|url=https://www.hrw.org/news/2017/02/14/oman-activists-family-barred-traveling-abroad|title=Oman: Activist's Family Barred from Traveling Abroad|date=14 February 2017|website=Human Rights Watch}}</ref><ref name="cgRR7">{{cite web |url=http://www.frontlinedefenders.org/node/27072 |website=Disappearances in Oman |title=Oman – Enforced disappearance of human rights defender Mr Mohamed al Fazari &#124; Front Line |access-date=12 January 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141228173444/http://www.frontlinedefenders.org/node/27072 |archive-date=28 December 2014 |url-status=dead}}</ref>