Human rights groups have often decried abuse of low-paid foreign workers by their employers - particularly of women in domestic labor. The foreigners are professionals like doctors, scientists, businessmen and oil workers skilled laborers such as electricians or do unskilled jobs in restaurants or homes. In Saudi Arabia, foreign workers make up about 21 percent of the population of more than 26 million, but labor unrest is rare in the tightly controlled country. Millions of foreign workers have flooded Gulf nations, outweighing the population of citizens in Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar. In April, Bangladeshis stormed their own embassy in Kuwait, protesting working conditions that human rights activists have denounced as “slave-like.” There have been strikes in recent months in Qatar and Oman. The riot was a rare outbreak of violence, but it was not the first sign of discontent among the foreigners who form the overwhelming majority of private sector workers in most oil-rich Gulf countries. Others said their leaders were asking for pay raises: skilled carpenters on the site earn $7.60 per day, with laborers getting $4 per day. No one will work,” said Khalid Farouk, 39, a laborer with Al Naboodah. In a sympathy strike, thousands of laborers building a terminal at Dubai International Airport also lay down their tools. When the laborers, who work for the Dubai-based firm Al Naboodah Laing O’Rourke, returned to the vast construction site Wednesday, they demanded better pay and employment conditions and refused to return to work. They said about two dozen cars and construction machines were wrecked. “We want people to comment on it, criticise it, to see how we can think about building topographies.Some 2,500 workers on the Burj Dubai tower and surrounding housing developments chased and beat security officers Tuesday night, then broke into offices where they smashed computers and files, witnesses said. “Our roles as architects is to come up with these ideas,” Najmus Chowdry, co-founder of Znera Space, previously told The National. However, the design is very much still a concept. With a circumference of 3km, the structure would consist of smaller units containing homes as well as public, commercial and cultural spaces, as well as a skypark and a tram that circles the outer perimeter. The planned project by architecture firm Znera Space, known as Downtown Circle, would be a floating city concept that would change the emirate’s skyline as we know it. In August, Burj Khalifa was - quite literally - at the centre of an ambitious architectural project, which would see it encircled by a 550-metre-tall ring structure. When it was surrounded by a futuristic ring design In November, it also lit up to celebrate Saudi Arabia’s historic World Cup win over eventual victors Argentina in the group stages, which shocked and delighted fans around the world in equal measure. In September, it commemorated the life of Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II, following her death aged 96. It held a special memorial show following the death of UAE President, Sheikh Khalifa, who died in May aged 73. But it also produces several special lights shows to mark global events, from celebrations to memorials and everything in between. Burj Khalifa lights up in tribute to Queen Elizabeth IIīurj Khalifa is famous for its nightly projector light shows, which transform the outside of the structure into a colourful show that draws tourists from around the world.
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