Truck drivers protest levy

TANGERANG: Some 200 truck drivers staged a rally at the municipal council offices here on Friday to demand the abolition of the road use levies imposed on drivers.

They were also demanding the release of six fellow drivers who were detained by the police following a violent protest over a similar issue last month.

"Can you imagine that from Batu Ceper to Jakarta we have to pass by four collection booths which charge drivers Rp 3,500 each?" a driver, Taufiq, 37, told The Jakarta Post.

He said that the drivers could chose to just pay Rp 1,000 or Rp 1,500 without receiving a ticket, meaning that the money went directly into the collecting officers' pockets.

The drivers began their rally at 8 a.m. but as of 3 p.m., none of the councillors had deigned to meet them.