Police officers head protest in support of higher wages

Several hundred police officers, firefighters and customs employees demonstrated outside the Interior Ministry on Wednesday in support of higher wages. The unions are demanding a 4 percent increase in salaries next year and want the ministry to approve new base pay charts for 2010 which would do away with the existing discrepancy in wages between officers serving in different parts of the country. The Interior Ministry says Wednesday’s protest action was unwarranted since a solution had been found to most of the problems outlined.