April 27, 2006, 12:16AM
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — About 2,500 foreign construction workers rioted over wages and working conditions at a building site in Dubai, smashing equipment and vehicles in the second violent protest by construction workers in a month in the fast-growing city.
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Witnesses said workers employed by Al-Ahmadiah Contracting company demonstrated for more than four hours Wednesday at the Dubai Marina, clashing with riot police and smashing vehicles and machinery at the waterfront site, which includes residential towers, outdoor cafes and a marina.
"We get 450 dirhams ($123) a month," one worker said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he feared retribution. "It's not enough. We can't save any money."
Brig. Gen. Mohammed al-Mansouri of Dubai Police said three workers were arrested.
Last month, workers rioted at the site of a building intended to be the world's tallest skyscraper, smashing cars and offices and causing an estimated $1 million in damages. After the protest, the United Arab Emirates government said it would pass a law to give laborers the right to form trade unions and bargain collectively.
The protests were not the first among the foreigners who form the overwhelming majority of private sector workers in most oil-rich Gulf countries. There have been strikes in recent months in Qatar and Oman. In April, Bangladeshis stormed their own embassy in Kuwait, protesting working conditions that human rights activists have denounced as "slave-like."
Last month, the New York-based Human Rights Watch rebuked the UAE for allowing abuse of Asian workers. The rights group said the building boom in Dubai and other Emirates cities was taking place at the expense of hundreds of thousands of underpaid workers from India, Pakistan, China and other Asian countries.
A Labor Ministry official Khalid al-Khazraji rejected such charges last week, saying "the UAE has a clean record on protection of workers' rights."
"The recent protests were motivated by economic factors and have nothing to do with security and legal rights of workers," he said.
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