Muscat: Security forces detained between 50 and 60 protesters, Oman's top prosecutor said on Saturday, in violent clashes the day before in the industrial town of Sohar.
The clashes on Friday during a fifth week of protests involved the use of knives, stones, teargas and rubber bullets and were halted by water cannon, witnesses said.
They came three days after a crackdown against protesters to clear a Sohar roundabout where about 100 people had camped out.
A 25-year-old man injured by a rubber bullet in Friday's clash died in hospital. Activists said security forces used teargas and beat some protesters with batons.
Oman's general prosecutor said in a statement carried by state media that demonstrators, some of whom were demanding the release of protesters detained on Tuesday, threw stones and used knives against security forces who used teargas and shot rubber bullets to disperse them.
Some protesters shot back at officers, the statement said, adding that five protesters were wounded, one critically.
In the capital Muscat, about 150 people gathered outside the Shura Council, the elected chamber of parliament, late on Friday but there was no visible security presence, a witness said. A few dozen remained yesterday. Organisers said they were waiting for more protesters to arrive from Sohar and planned to march on government offices later in the day.
