Ahead of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, Qatari authorities have reportedly evicted migrant workers from buildings in central Doha.
According to AFP, Municipal workers and security guards on Wednesday moved into about 12 buildings late to clear and lock them.
The administration claimed that all evicted individuals had been placed in “safe and acceptable accommodations” and that all necessary notice had been given before the buildings became “uninhabitable.”
The affected area has been significantly rebuilt in recent years, and some World Cup spectators will stay in flats in the zone, where dozens of motorized diggers are parked on the streets.
According to one of the evicted workers, Yunus, a Bangladeshi driver, he disclosed that he slept on the back of his flat-bed truck on a street in Al Mansoura, three nights after being forced out of one block.
“The first night it was chaos and there was not enough room for everyone to go to other places,” he said.
In any case, “this truck is my life and I will not leave it until I have somewhere where I can park it” near the new accommodation, he added.
Qatar has come under fire for its handling of foreign workers who built the majority of the World Cup’s new stadiums and transportation infrastructure.
The energy-rich state has come under fire for deaths, injuries, and unpaid salaries.
International unions say conditions have improved dramatically in recent years, and Qatar has promoted its reforms, but rights groups say more needs to be done.
