Tear gas ends protest

SEMARANG, Central Java: A protest staged by employees of the PT Queen Setyabudi company was broken up yesterday after the police threw tear gas into the crowd.

The protesters were demanding that the company pay them transport, meal and overtime allowances.

During the protest, the employees also held a poetry reading session in which a piece called Marsinah, Our Hero was read. The poem was in remembrance of Marsinah, a labor activist killed after staging a protest at the company where she worked in Sidoarjo, East Java.

The employees said that they pledged to continue Marsinah's struggle. (har)