Residents and workers said on Saturday that Qatari authorities had evicted hundreds of migrant workers from buildings in central Doha, casting a new shadow over the World Cup countdown.
According to local residents, municipal workers and security guards moved into about 12 buildings late on Wednesday to clear and lock them ahead of the tournament, which begins on November 20.
The government stated that the buildings were “uninhabitable,” that proper notice was given, and that alternative “safe and appropriate accommodation” for all evictees had been found.
The affected area has been massively redeveloped in recent years, and some World Cup fans will stay in apartments in the district, where dozens of mechanical diggers are parked on the streets.
Yunus, a Bangladeshi driver, slept in the early hours of Saturday 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.
More than 80% of Qatar’s 2.8 million people are migrants, with the majority coming from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Nepal, as well as the Philippines and African countries such as Kenya and Uganda.
Qatar has come under fire for its treatment of foreign workers who built the majority of the new stadiums and transportation infrastructure for the World Cup.
The energy-rich state has been chastised for fatalities, injuries, and unpaid wages.
