Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa leaves a May Day rally after being booed.

Workers swarmed the platform where South African President Cyril Ramaphosa was speaking, forcing him to leave the assembly.

During a ceremony in a stadium near the north-western city of Rustenburg, they chanted "Cyril must go" and held up signs demanding a pay raise.

For weeks, protesters who worked at a nearby mine had been on strike.

President Cyril Ramaphosa attempted to address the miners' concerns but was booed.

The workers want a 1,000 rand ($63; £50) yearly salary increase, which President Ramaphosa addressed directly.

According to the IOL news site, he told the miners, "We have received your message and we will be dealing with that situation."

According to the IOL, he also promised to speak with the appropriate authorities to meet their demands.

The president can be seen repeatedly attempting to calm the workers down in a two-minute video of the disruption, only to be met with more jeering and booing.

According to IOL, police had to intervene at Sunday's event, which was organized by South Africa's trade union federation Cosatu. A bodyguard led the president away from the venue.

According to its website, the workers were from Sibanye-Stillwater, a metal mining business that is also the world's largest primary producer of platinum.

The Covid problem has wreaked havoc on South Africa's economy, with unemployment hovering around 35%.

Mining is one of South Africa's most important industries, contributing 8-10% of national income and employing almost 450,000 people, but it has been declining in recent years.