Hundreds of workers rioted in Yemen on Sunday over a French engineer's alleged defilement of Islam's holy book, damaging a gas export terminal project and setting fire to cars and a helicopter, officials said. Security officials and witnesses said around 400 workers were protesting against what they said was the desecration of the Qur'an at the site, a liquefied natural gas terminal under construction in Belhaf, south-eastern Yemen. The project is being led by France's Total.The official Saba news agency said a peaceful demonstration after a "dispute with one of the engineers" turned violent when protesters attacked some of the project's assets. The agency said a team that includes security and labour officials was investigating the incident. It said there were no casualties in the riots quelled by the project's security force.
The Yemen LNG project, one of the main growth projects for the French energy giant, is due to start by the end of 2008 with the aim of producing 6.7 million metric tons a year. The security sources, who wished not to be named, said the Yemeni army had intervened to calm the violence and had evacuated the French engineer at the centre of the row.