Jordanian police fired tear gas to help rescue three staffers of the Sri Lankan Embassy in Jordan who were being held hostage by migrant workers wanting to come home, the embassy said.

The three men were held by a group of women migrant workers inside a hostel attached to the factory they were working in in the capital Amman.

The workers are demanding that they are repatriated immediately.

The government has stopped repatriation flights as a measure to prevent an increase in COVID 19 infections.

A statement from the Sri Lankan Embassy in Jordan states that labour staff of the embassy who visited the Camel and Wega factory in Karak yesterday to look into the welfare Sri Lanka migrant workers were held hostage over five hours by an unemployed section of the migrant workers.

A Facebook video posted by Jaburewela Chandrarathna Thero shows how the three staff members of the embassy were held hostage by the women migrant workers. The video showed the women trying to feed the hostages the food they have been eating for the past five months.

However, the embassy said that that they had distributed 375 dry rations and toilet packs at the same factory on July 22.

Jordanian police were called to defuse the situation in the factory and to release the embassy staff which had created unrest in the area resulting Jordan police using tear gas to control the situation. (Colombo/July28/2020)

https://economynext.com/jordanian-police-rescue-sri-lanka-embassy-staff-held-hostage-by-migrant-workers-72456/