DUBAI: Construction on a building expected to be the world's tallest was interrupted yesterday after Asian workers angered by low salaries and mistreatment revolted in Dubai. They smashed cars and offices, and caused what a government official said almost $1 million (BD37,800) in damage.
The stoppage also triggered a sympathy strike at Dubai International Airport, when thousands of labourers building a massive new terminal also laid down their tools yesterday, airport and labour officials said.
More than 2,500 workers on the emerging Burj Dubai tower and surrounding housing developments chased and beat security officers on Tuesday night, broke into temporary offices and smashed computers and files, and destroyed about two dozen cars and construction machines, witnesses said.
The initial riot was caused by workers angered because buses to their residential camp were delayed after their shifts, witnesses at the site said.
An Interior Ministry official who investigates labour issues, Lt Col Rashid Bakhit Al Jumairi, said the rioters caused almost $1m in damage.
The workers, employed by Dubai-based construction firm Al Naboodah Laing O'Rourke, returned to the vast site but refused to work.
Crowds of blue-garbed workers milled in the shadow of the grey concrete tower, now 36 storeys tall, while leaders negotiated with officials from the company and the Ministry of Labour.
"Everyone is angry here. No one will work," said Khalid Farouk, 39, a labourer.
|