Employees of the UAE-based Drake & Scull Group, who walked off their
jobs on March 17, torched buses and cars, stormed a company building and
vandalized residences. Scores of workers also attacked police and government
officials in Al Saja'a, Middle East Newsline reported.
Al Hudaidi said 40 cars and 28 buses were damaged in the riot by
Bengalis, Indians, Pakistanis and Sri Lankans. He said the violence appeared
to have been organized.
"A group of workers was also involved in provoking the rest to go on
strike and commit vandalism," Al Hudaidi said.
Hundreds of police sealed off the labor camp and then began rounding up
suspected rioters. About 1,000 people were said to have been arrested.
"Police came and arrested those few people who instigated violence," a
spokeswoman for Drake & Scull Group said.
Diplomats and officials agreed that the riot marked the worst labor
unrest in the Gulf in decades. They warned that the huge expatriate
population in Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE was
becoming a security threat amid its demands for higher wages, better
conditions and political rights.
"This kind of violence has the potential spreading rapidly throughout
the region," a Western diplomatic source who monitors labor unrest said.
