DUBAI, April 3: Authorities questioned dozens of Asian labourers after hundreds of workers clashed with police during a protest against their living conditions in the emirate of Sharjah, media reported on Thursday.

Police “brought calm” to the al-Nahda district of Sharjah where the workers’ protest took place on Wednesday night at the site of a number of residential towers under construction, the state news agency WAM reported.

It said the workers, from the Tiger Contracting Company, climbed one of the unfinished buildings and threw stones, bricks and other construction equipment at police.

The head of Sharjah police, Brig Gen Humaid Mohammed al-Hudaidi, called the incident “an act of rioting” that had “nothing to do with labour disputes,” WAM reported.

The English language newspaper Khaleej Times reported 600 workers were arrested, but WAM did not mention arrests.

A witness, living next to the site of the protest, said the workers were angry because they were forced to live on the construction site where they worked. The witness said he saw the workers climbing the structure and shouting.

Strikes are illegal and unions are banned in the UAE. Protesting labourers complain of poor salaries that are diminishing in value because of the falling US dollar. The Emirates’ currency – the dirham – is pegged to the dollar.

WAM said police were alerted to Wednesday’s unrest by an anonymous motorist who said “a group of people” had blocked a road between Dubai and Sharjah.

After “verifying the information through the observation cameras which were activated at the site, Sharjah police found the rioters were Indians, Bengalis, Afghans and Pakistanis working for the company,” WAM said.

The Khaleej Times said on Thursday the workers felt the building site was not an appropriate accommodation. It said about 800 workers were involved in “destruction of property, blocking traffic and posing security threat to drivers” and that police had arrested more than 600 workers.

It also said the workers had to live in the two building sites as a temporary measure due to maintenance work in the camps they normally live in.

WAM said Sharjah authorities started questioning workers who were “involved in the riot” to find out the reasons behind “the subversive act.”

“The UAE security forces will never allow any individual or group to jeopardise the country’s stability and security and whoever attempts to do so and violate the law will be strictly dealt with,” Al-Hudaidi said.—AP