Members of the Federation of Korean Trade Unions shout slogans during a May Day rally near the National Assembly in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, May 1, 2015.
BERLIN — Left-wing groups and trade unions were staging rallies around the world Friday to mark International Workers Day.
Most events were peaceful protests for workers’ rights and world peace. But May 1 regularly sees clashes between police and militant groups in some cities.
International Workers Day originates in the United States. American unions first called for the introduction of an eight-hour working day in the second half of the 19th century. A general strike was declared to press these demands, starting May 1, 1886. The idea spread to other countries and since then workers around the world have held protests on May 1 every year, although the U.S. celebrates Labor Day on the first Monday in September.
Here’s a look at some of the May Day events around the world:
TURKEY
A demonstrator runs to hurl a firebomb towards riot police officers during clashes in Istanbul, Turkey, Friday, May 1, 2015. Clashes erupted between police and May Day demonstrators in Istanbul on Friday as crowds determined to defy a government ban tried to march to the city’s iconic Taksim Square. Security forces pushed back demonstrators with a water cannon and tear gas.
Police and May Day demonstrators clashed in Istanbul as crowds determined to defy a government ban tried to march to the city’s iconic Taksim Square.
Security forces pushed back demonstrators using water cannons and tear gas. Protesters retaliated by throwing stones and hurling firecrackers at police.
Authorities have blocked the square that is symbolic as the center of protests in which 34 people were killed in 1977.
Turkish newswires say that 10,000 police officers were stationed around the square Friday.
The demonstrations are the first large-scale protests since the government passed a security bill this year giving police expanded powers to crack down on protesters.
SOUTH KOREA
Members of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions try to move a bus blocking a street by pulling ropes they tied near the police vehicle’s wheels as police spray fire extinguisher on them after their May Day rally against the government labor policy and the handling of a ferry disaster that killed more than 300 people a year ago in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, May 1, 2015. Demonstrators occupied several downtown streets and sporadically clashed with police officers, who created tight perimeters with their buses to block the marchers. There were no immediate reports of injuries.
Thousands of people marched in the capital Seoul on Friday for a third week to protest government labor policies and the handling of a ferry disaster that killed more than 300 people a year ago.
Demonstrators occupied several downtown streets and sporadically clashed with police officers. Protesters tried to move buses used to block their progress. Police responded by spraying tear gas. There were no immediate reports of injuries.
South Korean labor groups have been denouncing a series of government policies they believe will reduce wages, job security and retirement benefits for state employees.
PHILIPPINES
Protesters, mostly workers, set on fire to an effigy of Philippine President Benigno Aquino III during a rally near the Presidential Palace in Manila to mark May Day Friday, May 1, 2015, a national holiday in the Philippines. Thousands of workers converged near the palace to call for the resignation of Aquino, demand higher wages, better working conditions, fair export labor policies and a halt to contractualization. The sign reads: Oust Noynoy Aquino!
More than 10,000 workers and activists marched in Manila and burned an effigy of Philippine President Benigno Aquino III to protest low wages and a law allowing employers to hire laborers for less than six months to avoid giving benefits received by regular workers.
Workers in metropolitan Manila now receive 481 pesos ($10.80) in daily minimum wage after a 15 peso ($0.34) increase in March.
Although it is the highest rate in the country, it is still “a far cry from being decent,” says Lito Ustarez, vice chairman of the left-wing May One Movement.
GREECE
Protestrers take part in a May Day rally in central Athens, on Friday, May 1, 2015. In financially struggling Greece, an estimated 13,000 people took part in three separate May Day marches in Athens, carrying banners and shouting anti-austerity slogans.
In financially struggling Greece, an estimated 13,000 people took part in three separate May Day marches in Athens, carrying banners and shouting anti-austerity slogans. Minor clashes broke out at the end of the peaceful marches, when a handful of hooded youths threw a petrol bomb at riot police. No injuries or arrests were reported.
Earlier, ministers from the governing radical left Syriza party joined protesters gathering for the marches, including Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis — who was mobbed by media and admirers — and the ministers of labor and energy.
GERMANY
A women delivers a speech as she stands on a chair of the public art project “Anything to Say?” at the Alexander Square in Berlin, Germany, Friday, May 1, 2015. The sculpture of the Italian artist Davide Dormino shows the whistleblowers Chelsea Manning, Julian Assange and Edward Snowden, from right, to honour their courage.
Police in Berlin say the traditional ‘Walpurgis Night’ protest marking the eve of May 1 was calmer than previous years.
Several thousand people took part in anti-capitalist street parties in the north of the city. Fireworks and stones were thrown at police, injuring one officer. Fifteen people were detained. Elsewhere in the German capital revelers partied “extremely peacefully,” police noted on Friday morning.
At noon, Green Party activists unveiled a statue at Alexanderplatz in central Berlin of Edward Snowden, Julian Assange and Chelsea Manning, considered heroes by many on the left for leaking secret U.S. intelligence and military documents. The statue, called “Anything to say,” depicts the three standing on chairs and is scheduled to go on tour around the world, according to the website http://www.anythingtosay.com/.
In the central German city of Weimar far-right extremists attacked a union event. Police said 15 people were injured and 29 were arrested.