More than 100 Bahrain businessmen protested outside a government office that taxes them on their expat workers.

They gathered outside the Labour Market Regulatory Authority (LMRA) at 9.30am to demand the resignation of its chief executive officer Ali Radhi.

Protesters also carried banners alleging the foreign worker tax amounted to theft.

They called for an investigation into the performance of the LMRA and later marched from the LMRA headquarters, in Sanabis, to the nearby headquarters of the Bahrain Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BDCI), which also includes the offices of Tamkeen - the body tasked with using the foreign worker tax to train Bahrainis and provide them job opportunities.

'We organised this protest due to the decisions of the LMRA that have hurt us business owners,' said protest spokesman and businessman Nader Allawy.

'This is supposed to be the market regulation authority, but there is no regulating happening.' Yesterday's protest was the latest in a series of demonstrations against the expat tax, which started more than a year ago.

The foreign worker tax was introduced in 2008 and forces companies to pay BD10 a month for every expatriate they employ, in addition to a one-off payment of BD200 every time their contract is renewed.

Eighty per cent of that money is earmarked to pay for training programmes and other initiatives organised by Tamkeen to boost the number of skilled Bahrainis in the job market.

The protesters again claimed yesterday they could not afford to pay the tax, while one lashed out at a BD1,000 fine for recruiting illegal workers.

'It's not my fault if I give a poor man a job so that he doesn't go around stealing, killing or raping,' claimed 57-year-old garage owner Khalifa Mohammed.

'Why should I be dragged to court and treated like a criminal?

'The original person who sold or rented him (the illegal worker) a visa should be the one prosecuted - or the worker himself should be deported or penalised.

'I am closing down my shop because of all these problems they are creating for us.

'I can't pay anything anymore. I am living in fear and I am just about to lose my source of income.'

An LMRA spokesman yesterday declined to comment in detail, saying there was nothing new in the businessmen's demands.

However, he said the protesters had still not provided their Commercial Registration details to the LMRA so their cases could be studied, six months after LMRA officials requested them.

Tamkeen did not respond to our sister newspaper Gulf Daily News' (GDN) inquires.

Meanwhile, the BCCI announced yesterday that a forum had been lined up on May 24 to discuss the LMRA's foreign worker tax.

It said the event would also focus on how to make Bahrainis the first choice for employers.

The forum will run from 8am to 2pm in the BCCI's conference hall, located in its Sanabis headquarters.-TradeArabia News Service