Taking to the streets

Around 1,600 protesters attended a protest yesterday led by directly elected legislator José Pereira Coutinho, together with the Macau Worker Helper Union and other associations. The protest started at 3:00pm in Tap Seac Square, from which the crowd walked to Government Headquarters to submit a petition urging the MSAR Government to rescind the new transportation regulations which came into effect on January 1. Coutinho told reporters prior to the protest that they wish to negotiate with the Secretary for Transport and Public Works in order to understand the intention of the government’s decision to drastically increase transportation fees; related in particular to parking, vehicle inspection and ‘illegal parking’ fines.