Almost a thousand protesters took to the streets of Taipei on Sunday demanding that the government make a weekly day off a legal right for Taiwan's 200,000 foreign live-in carers. The demonstrators - mostly caregivers from Southeast Asia backed by local labour group activists - chanted slogans and unfurled huge banners as they marched through the capital.
"A weekly day off is the minimum standard... It is not negotiable," said an official from the Taiwan International Workers' Association, which organised the protest.
An AFP photographer estimated that almost 1,000 people took part. Labour laws entitle immigrant factory and construction workers to a day off each week but caregivers for the sick and elderly - who make up about half of the island's overseas workers - are not included in the entitlement.
Many receive extra pay instead of a day off work. Government figures show that a record 421,000 foreign workers are employed in Taiwan, where demand for live-in carers has surged due to an ageing population.