More than 4,000 south Asian workers who had been jailed since a weekend labor strike were released Wednesday, India's ambassador said, in an incident that has highlighted labor tensions in this booming city.
About 160 other strikers, including 90 Indian nationals, remained in custody in Dubai's central jail after United Arab Emirates authorities determined they had participated in violence during the strike, said Tahmiz Ahmad, the Indian ambassador to the Emirates.
The workers went on strike Saturday and Sunday over harsh working conditions and demanded pay increases, improved housing and better transportation to construction sites. On Saturday, workers threw stones at riot police and damaged police cars.
Ahmad said most of the estimated 4,000 to 4,500 Asian workers, many Indians, who were released returned to to their jobs.
Police and Dubai officials could not be immediately reached for comment. Dubai authorities had not announced that workers had been jailed as a result of the strike.
Navtej Sarna, a spokesman for India's ministry of external affairs in New Delhi, said officials there were not aware of the detentions until Wednesday and believed only about 140 people, including 90 Indians, remained in custody.
There was no immediate explanation for the discrepancy between the numbers from Indian officials in the Emirates and in New Delhi.
Emirates' Minister of Labor Ali bin Abdullah al-Kaabi has called the workers' behavior "uncivilized," saying they were tampering with national security and endangering residents' safety.
Dubai's boom economy has been helped by plentiful investment from oil-rich neighbors and armies of non-unionized south Asian workers.
While laborers have long complained about conditions in this Gulf city known for its skyscrapers, luxury dwellings and artificial islands, their recent actions come as contractors are struggling to find enough workers, after a government amnesty prompted many illegal Asian workers to leave Dubai.
Source: AP News
