Qatar evicts hundreds of migrant workers – casts shadow over football World Cup
- Government says buildings are ‘uninhabitable’ and proper notice is given. Residents say most of the evicted work for low wages low and cannot afford rent
- Migrants, mostly from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, the Philippines and African nations, make up about 80 per cent of Qatar’s 2.8 million population
Qatari authorities have evicted hundreds of migrant workers from buildings in central Doha, casting a new shadow over the countdown to the World Cup, residents and workers said on Saturday.
Municipal workers and security guards moved into about 12 buildings late on Wednesday to clear and lock them, according to local residents, ahead of the international tournament that kicks off on November 20.
The government said the buildings were “uninhabitable”, proper notice was given, and that alternative “safe and appropriate accommodation” had been found for all evictees.
The affected area, largely around Al-Mansoura, has been massively redeveloped in recent years and some World Cup fans will stay in flats in the district, where dozens of mechanical diggers are parked in the streets.
In the early hours of Saturday, Yunus, a Bangladeshi driver, slept on the back of his flat-bed truck on a street in Al Mansoura, three nights after being forced out of one block.
“The first night it was chaos and there was not enough room for everyone to go to other places,” he said.