Semarang – Hundreds of students, ordinary people and social groups joined the Indonesian Trade Union Congress Alliance (KASBI) and took to the streets of the East Java provincial capital of Semarang on Wednesday May 1 to commemorate International Labour Day.
By around 10.30 am, hundreds of people had already gathered in front of the Semarang City Hall on Jl. Pemuda. Carrying paraphernalia such as flags and accessories with themes related to workers’ welfare, they then held a convey using pickup trucks and hundreds of motorcycles.
“How can we send our children to university while our wages are barely enough to buy food. We are still oppressed!”, shouted a speaker from atop a pickup truck using a megaphone.
After giving speeches in front of the City Hall, they slowly moved off to the Baiturrahman Mosque in the Simpang Lima district and then marched on foot to governor’s office on Jl. Pahlawan.
At 11.18 am they began to moving off from Jl. Pemuda towards Simpang Lima via the Youth Monument area. The flow of traffic on Jl. Pemuda was blocked because the demonstrators took up half of the road. (tribunjateng/rez)
[Translated by James Balowski. The original title of the article was “May day, Ada Aksi Buruh Turun ke Jalan dari Pemuda, Simpang lima hingga Pahlawan Semarang”.]
