Workers across Asia mark May Day

Thousands across Asia marked May Day or International Workers' Day on Monday by holding rallies and demanding better wages and working rights.

In Jakarta, more than 10,000 workers gathered in a rally to protest President Joko Widodo's labour policies, Efe news reported.

They were stopped by a road block police set up about 500 metres from the presidential palace, manned by around 1,000 anti-riot police officers.

In the Philippines, hundreds took to the streets in Quezon City, east of Manila, to call for an increase in the minimum wage.

About 1,500 protesters marched along the Quezon Avenue to the Mabuhay Rotonda roundabout, carrying large flags and banners and raising slogans like "Enforce 750 peso (about $15) national minimum wage" and "Increase wages, decrease prices".

The march was organised by labour groups, who are calling for a minimum daily wage of 750 pesos for workers and a minimum monthly salary of 16,000 pesos for government employees.

In Cambodia, thousands of workers rallied in Phnom Penh to call for improved working conditions, higher minimum wages and amendments to a law that make it difficult for workers to unionise.

International Workers' Day is celebrated each year on May 1 as a celebration of workers and labour rights, and is an official public holiday in several countries.

--IANS

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