Kudus – A group of at least 1,500 workers from cigarette companies in Kudus, Central Java, staged a protest Wednesday rejecting the new cigarette excise imposed by the government.

The demonstrators urged Finance Minister Sri Mulyani to resign for having issued the policy. "The finance minister does not support small cigarette firms," protester Eny Mariyanti said.

Ahmad Guntur, the chairman of the Indonesian Cigarette Industry Forum (Formasi), said small cigarette companies would see a 60 percent increase in their excise under the new policy. "It's too much for them," he said.