Thousands of workers are evicted in the Qatari capital ahead of the World Cup

qatar has emptied apartment blocks housing thousands of foreign workers in Doha to house football fans during the world Cuppeople who were evicted told Reuters.

Workers said more than a dozen buildings had been evacuated and closed by authorities, forcing mostly Asian and African citizens to seek shelter. Some even lay down on the pavement.

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The move comes less than four weeks before the start of the world soccer tournament on November 20, which takes place amid intense international scrutiny over Qatar’s treatment of foreign workers.

In a building housing 1,200 people in Doha’s Al Mansoura district, authorities told residents that by 8 p.m. Wednesday they had to leave. Municipal officials returned at 10:30 p.m., forced everyone out and locked the doors of the building, residents said.

“We have nowhere to goa man told Reuters the next day as he prepared to sleep rough for the second night in a row with 10 other men, some of them shirtless, in the heat and humidity of autumn in the Gulf state.

The workers who spoke to Reuters declined to give their names or personal details for fear of reprisals. Nearby, five men were loading a mattress and a small refrigerator into the back of a pickup truck. They had found a room in Sumaysimah, about 40 km from Doha.

A Qatari government official said the evictions were not related to the World Cup and had been staged.s “in line with ongoing comprehensive and long-term plans to redesign areas” From the capital.

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World soccer’s governing body, FIFA, did not respond to a request for comment and World Cup organizers in Qatar directed inquiries at the government.

Mohammed, a driver from Bangladesh, said he had lived in the same neighborhood for 14 years until Wednesday, when the municipality told him he had 48 hours to leave the house he shared with 38 other people.

“Who made the stadiums? Who made the roads? Who did everything? The Bengalis, the Pakistanis. People like us. Now they are forcing us all out.”he claimed.

Source: Elcomercio

Ronald Payne

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