Hostage drama as 28 held

gulf-daily-news.com

Sunday, February 28, 2010

TWENTY-EIGHT Chinese workers have been arrested after holding their bosses hostage for several hours at a labour camp in Zallaq.

More than 150 men from the state-owned China State Construction Engineering Corporation locked the nine engineers, architects and foremen in a room at the site on Friday.

More than 30 Interior Ministry vehicles and several fire engines and ambulances were called to the scene, as officials prepared for a potentially disastrous outcome.

Despite several hours of negotiations led by police and a diplomat from the Chinese Embassy they failed to persuade the workers to release the men.

Finally at 2am yesterday, police were forced to storm the camp and rescue the hostages, in what is believed to be the first incident of its kind in Bahrain.

Two workers and a police officer were slightly injured in the commotion, according to witnesses.

A 39-year-old hostage also had to be taken to the BDF Hospital for head and neck injuries after apparently being attacked while being held captive.

Police arrested the workers thought to be ringleaders.

The labourers had earlier demanded the nine men be sent back to China and replaced, claiming t

« The police was notified at around 8pm on Friday, » said sources.

« It was like an emergency situation and there were many police vans, fire engines and ambulances at the scene as if they were preparing for the worst.

« The workers seemed violent and the police and an embassy official tried to convince them politely that what they were doing was wrong.

« They kept on demanding that these bosses be sent back to China as they were not being paid properly and were being mistreated by them.

« The talk continued for around six hours and then police stormed the camp and rescued them.

« They were probably concerned for the hostages’ lives and didn’t want to wait any more. »

hey were mistreating and underpaying them.

The Chinese Embassy said officials were « studying the matter ».

However, no one from the company’s Bahrain office or headquarters in Beijing were available for comment yesterday.

The China State Construction Engineering Corporation was founded in 1982 and is the largest construction enterprise, real estate developer and international contractor in China. begena@gdn.com.bh

Bahrain police in dramatic hostage rescue

business.maktoob.com

Feb 28, 2010

DUBAI – Police were forced to storm a labour camp in a dramatic hostage rescue in Bahrain on Saturday after Chinese labourers took their bosses captive in a protest over pay and treatment, the local Gulf Daily News reported.

More than 150 labourers held nine men hostage for around six hours in a standoff with police at their accommodation in Zallaq, a village on the western coast of Bahrain, the newspaper reported on Sunday.

Police raided the camp at around 2 a.m. after negotiations with company officials and Chinese diplomats failed, the paper said.

Two workers, a hostage and a police officer were injured in the rescue, which Gulf Daily News described as the “first incident of its kind in Bahrain”.

Police have arrested 28 workers suspected of being the ringleaders, the paper added.

« It was like an emergency situation and there were many police vans, fire engines and ambulances at the scene as if they were preparing for the worst,” an unnamed source was quoted as saying.

Protests are commonplace in Bahrain, the only Gulf state to permit workers to take industrial action and form trade unions. Saturday’s protest, however, is among the most extreme ever seen in the country.

The protesters were demanding their employer, China State Construction Engineering Corp, repatriate nine hostages who they accused of underpaying and mistreating workers, according to the paper

Police rescue nine Chinese supervisors held hostage by laborers

en.trend.az

27.02.2010

Bahraini police on Saturday rescued nine Chinese men taken hostage by fellow laborers near a construction site in Zallaq, 25 kilometres south of the capital, Manama, dpa reported.

The operation occurred after negotiations led by the Ministry of Interior and a Chinese diplomat failed to persuade the Chinese workers to release the hostages, said to include architects and foremen at the job site, ministry officials said.

Police stormed the barricaded worker-housing compound after a siege that lasted several hours, freeing the nine men and arresting 26 workers of the approximately 150 residing in the camp.

Two workers and a police officer were slightly injured. The sources, who requested anonymity, said the workers, employees of the state-owned China State Construction Engineering Corp, alleged that the nine men were mistreating and underpaying them.

The workers had demanded the nine men be sent back to China and be replaced.

Founded in 1982, the firm is the largest construction enterprise, real estate developer and international contractor in China.

28 workers arrested after Bahrain hostage drama

arabianbusiness.com

Sunday, 28 February 2010

A group of Chinese workers held their bosses hostage for several hours at a Bahrain labour camp over claims of poor pay and mistreatment.

Police were forced to storm the camp in in Zallaq to rescue nine engineers, architects and foremen locked inside a building after negotiations failed.

Twenty eight workers of the China State Construction Engineering Corporation, thought to be the ringleaders, were arrested by police, reported Gulf Daily News on Sunday.

Chinese workers, police clash in Bahrain labor camp

ARAB NEWS

Feb 27, 2010

MANAMA: Security forces clashed with a group of Chinese workers who had taken hostage at least nine of their superiors near a construction site in Zallaq, 25 km south of the capital Manama, Saturday morning.

Police stormed the barricaded worker-housing compound after a siege that lasted several hours, freeing the nine men and arresting 26 workers of the approximately 150 residing in the camp.

The operation occurred after negotiations led by the Ministry of Interior and a Chinese diplomat failed to persuade the Chinese workers to release the hostages, who included architects and foremen at the job site, ministry officials said.

The officials, who requested anonymity, said the workers, employees of the state-owned China State Construction Engineering Corp (CSCEC), alleged that the nine men were mistreating and underpaying them.

The workers had demanded the nine men be sent back to China and be replaced.

Sources at the Interior Ministry confirmed that 28 workers were detained, while one of the hostages and four policemen sustained minor injuries during the clashes. They were later taken hospital.

The workers started a wildcat strike on Friday, but the issue was resolved after negotiations with the Ministry of Labor and the Chinese Embassy.

But the workers gathered again Saturday morning and took nine senior Chinese staff hostage to press their demands.

Founded in 1982, the CSEC is the largest construction enterprise, real estate developer and international contractor in China

~ par Alain Bertho sur 28 février 2010.

Publié dans émeutes, motim, الشغب