Thousands of foreign workers have been evicted from their apartments in the same area of the capital where fans will stay during the World Cup.
The mostly Asian and African workers were forced to sleep on the pavement outside one of their former homes after more than a dozen buildings were evacuated and shut down.
Three weeks before the start of the tournament, which has drawn intense international scrutiny of the treatment of foreign workers, the move comes.
The people were told at about 8pm on Wednesday that they had two hours to leave the building.
The officials locked the doors to the building when they came back around 10:30pm. Men weren't able to return in time to get their stuff.
"We don't have a place to go, so we're going to sleep out for a second night with 10 other men," a man told the news agency as he prepared to sleep out for a second night.
He and most other workers refused to give their names or personal details for fear of repercussions from their employers.
A group of men were loading a mattress and fridge into a truck. They said they found a room in the area.
The evictions are unrelated to the World Cup and were designed in line with ongoing plans to reorganize areas of the city.
The official said that all had been rehoused in safe and appropriate accommodations.
The organisation of the World Cup in Qatar did not reply to a request for comment.
The mayor of Barcelona said her city doesn't support holding the World Cup in a dictatorship and won't be offering public viewing places.
The mayor of Barcelona turned down a request from an opposition party to open a public venue for citizens to watch Spain.
Germany's interior minister appeared to criticize the decision to award the World Cup to the Gulf Arab nation due to its human rights record.
All Rights Reserved © 2024
