Riot By Migrant Workers Halts Construction of Dubai Skyscraper

Construction of what is expected to be the world's tallest building was halted yesterday after 2,500 workers in Dubai rioted over pay and conditions, causing damage estimated at £500,000.

The trouble broke out on Tuesday night when buses due to take labourers to a residential camp at the end of their shift were delayed, witnesses said. Workers from the Burj Dubai tower site and surrounding housing developments then chased and assaulted security officers, broke into offices, smashed computers and files, and destroyed about two dozen cars and construction machines, they added.

"Everyone is angry. No one will work," a labourer, Khalid Farouk, told the Associated Press. Other workers said they wanted pay rises: skilled carpenters earn £4.34 a day and labourers £2.84.

Construction workers building a new terminal for Dubai international airport also downed tools in sympathy yesterday, airport officials said.

Burj Dubai is intended to be the world's tallest building when it is completed in 2008. The developers are keeping its eventual height secret in case competitors try to overtake it. So far 36 storeys have been built.

In recent years Dubai has been the scene of an extraordinary construction boom. Most of the work is done by poor Asian migrants who have been growing increasingly restive amid reports of mistreatment and exploitation. Last September about 7,000 labourers staged an unprecedented three-hour demonstration.

Workers' grievances often centre on poor living conditions and non-payment of wages. According to the UAE labour ministry there were 5,486 complaints about non-payment of wages last year. Some companies have been accused of retaining and "losing" migrant workers' passports to stop them returning home.