Clashes at rally against new Indonesia labour law

Thousands of enraged students and workers staged rallies across Indonesia on Thursday in opposition to a new law they say will cripple labour rights and harm the environment.

Crowds of protesters came face to face with police in Jakarta, the capital, with some throwing objects and clouds of smoke rising from the pavement during the chaos.

The Job Creation Law approved by Parliament on Monday is expected to substantially change Indonesia's labor system and natural resources management. It amended 79 previous laws and was intended to improve bureaucratic efficiency as part of efforts by President Joko Widodo's administration to attract more investment to the country.

The demonstrators say the law will hurt workers by reducing severance pay, removing restrictions on manual labor by foreign workers, increasing the use of outsourcing, and converting monthly wages to hourly.

Protests also occurred in other Indonesian cities on Thursday, including in Yogyakarta, Medan, Palembang and Makassar.

Indonesia, southeast Asia's largest economy, is eagerly courting foreign investors as key drivers of economic growth in a nation where nearly half the population of 270 million are younger than 30.

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