Pakistanis attack Bangladeshis in UAE

Quoting witnesses, ‘7 Days in Dubai’ reported on Thursday that Bangladeshi workers were stabbed in a camp near the construction site of the giant Arabtec on Tuesday night.

The initial scuffle was reported in the dining area, but it soon spread to other sections. “The fighting spread to accommodation, where gangs of Pakistanis went looking for Bangladeshi workers,” one witness told the newspaper.

Forty people were taken to hospital and 25 arrested after the fight at that the Saadiyat Construction Village.

Arabtec’s Head of Group Corporate Communications, Ashraf Zeitoon, said the fight was sparked by ‘intercultural issues’. “It snowballed from a squabble between two workers and soon tens and tens got involved. Nobody was seriously injured but 40 are in hospital.”

Witnesses said dozens of workers were attacked with sticks, hammers, metal bars and wooden spears shaped from trees in a mass brawl.

The newspaper said the fighting was thought to have continued into Wednesday morning, when police personnel were drafted to restore order.

Those who fought one another were all inmates of the same camp.

Zeitoon said: “We have now separated the Pakistani and Bangladeshi living quarters.

“The company is working to improve relations between the nationalities. The problems Pakistanis and Bangladeshis have with each other go way beyond the borders of the UAE,” he added.

The report said the violence followed a major strike mostly by Bangladeshi workers in May over pay.

Arabtec cancelled some of the Bangladesh workers’ visas and sent them home, replacing them with Pakistanis. The move, some workers said, had had caused the tension.

“The fighting is said to have been sparked by name-calling in the dining area and a dispute between two men over a room key. That sparked the brawl and both sides called for reinforcements,’ the newspaper said.

Police helicopters hovered over the site on Wednesday morning, while Arabtec officials, police response teams and security guards rushed in and out, it added.

Source: Bd news24