Thai police and protesters scuffle on eve of big demonstration

Wearing white Islamic garb and waving red and white Indonesian flags, more than 1,000 protesters from Islamic and student groups gathered in the world's most populous Muslim nation on Tuesday to show discontent over a divisive new jobs law. Conservative Islamic groups are among the latest to join the volatile street demonstrations, during which police fired tear gas on Tuesday to try to break up crowds, as pressure mounts on the government to repeal a law they say undermines labour rights and environmental protections.

The country's largest Islamic organisation, Nahdlatul Ulama, is among its opponents and says it favours conglomerates while "trampling" on the rights of working-class Indonesians. Hamdan, a 53-year-old teacher who goes by one name, said he would keep protesting repealed.

"People can't go out, some people can't even eat and unemployment is still high," he told Reuters in Jakarta. "Even my son still can't find a job." Protests against the so-called omnibus law took place in multiple locations involving thousands of Indonesians last week, some of which saw streets blocked, tyres burned and rocks hurled, leading to more than 6,000 people being detained.

"The bill will definitely affect myself, my job, my relatives, my friends and everything," said engineer Rafi Zakaria, 30. "It doesn't only affect labourers. Our students here joined the protest because they're concerned about their parents' jobs."

The law, designed to reduce red tape and attract investors, has yet to be published and the unofficial versions circulating in the media and online have led to spec

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was ulation and confusion. Deputy house speaker Azis Syamsyuddin told Reuters the law would be sent to the president and made public on Wednesday.

The government is standing by the legislation and President Joko Widodo has blamed the public outcry on disinformation. Indonesia's defence minister has blamed the demonstrations on "foreign interference". "There are those who do not want to see Indonesia as conducive to investors, and want to always benefit from that," the ministry spokesperson, Dahnil Anzar Simanjuntak, said, without elaborating.

Thai police and protesters scuffled in Bangkok on Tuesday on the eve of a major planned antigovernment demonstration and police said at least four people had been detained. Trouble broke out when hundreds of protesters gathered near the Democracy Monument, a focal point of three months of demonstrations to demand a new constitution and the removal of Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha, a former junta leader.

Protesters pushed up against a police line and some threw blue paint over the officers. Police meanwhile demolished a tent that had been set up by the protesters. A Thai police spokesman said some people for whom there were outstanding arrest warrants had been detained and that they would now face the legal process. There had been "four or five" arrests, he said.

Thai Lawyers for Human Rights said at least nine people had been arrested and that one was injured. Protests since mid- July have brought the highest pressure in years on Thailand's ruling establishment, with protesters also calling for reforms to curb the monarchy of King Maha Vajiralongkorn, once a taboo subject.

Tuesday was a public holiday to mark four years since the death of the king's father, King Bhumibol Adulyadej.