Millions march on May Day amid austerity measures in Europe
Policemen carry away a protester during a May Day demonstration on May 1, 2011 at Berlin’s Kreuzberg district. The international day of the worker has for the past two decades been accompanied in German cities by sporadic street violence and pitched battles between far-right skinheads, anti-fascist groups and police.
Millions of people around the world marched on Sunday defending workers rights in traditional May 1st demonstrations, in some cases clashing with police.
In Europe, austerity measures amid government budget cuts to stabilize the beleagured euro currency helped fuel protesters’ anger in countries such as Greece and Portugal.
Protests were largely peaceful. In the German capital Berlin, normally a hotspot for left-wing extremist violence on the International Workers’ Day, police arrested some radicals though the demonstrations overall were more peaceful than authorities had expected.
More than 420,000 people rallied across Germany, which is Europe’s biggest economy and is pushing for stricter budget cuts among some poorer neighbors, German media reported.
There were fears that violence would erupt on Sunday after about 4,000 far-left protesters clashed in Hamburg earlier on the weekend, leaving 10 police injured in the port city, news agency AFP reported.
On Sunday, 4,000 anti-fascists demonstrated against a far-right rally in the northern city of Bremen, leaving two officers slightly injured, AFP reported.
One of the biggest turnouts was in Istanbul, Turkey, where an estimated 200,000 people marched to demand better rights and wages for Turkish workers. It was the largest workers' rally to be held in the city’s Taksim Square since 34 people died in a stampede in 1977. Trade unions were barred from holding May Day rallies in the square until last year.
In Greece, which has suffered deep government budget cuts as part of the bailout package it was forced to take from the neighbors and the International Monetary Fund, at least 15,000 people marched on Sunday, the Associated Press reported.
Greek unions have called for a general strike on May 11, but Prime Minister George Papandreou in his May Day message appealed to everyone to back “the big changes that the country needs.”
Meanwhile in Portugal, which turned to international officials earlier this month to discuss a bailout, tens of thousands of people marched against expected austerity measures.
"We will never accept being colonised," said Manuel Carvalho da Silva, the head of the CGTP union, told demonstrators in Lisbon, according to AFP.
Marches took place right around the world, including a major showing Moscow, though the march was organized by pro-Kremlin parties as well as trade unions. It far outnumbered previous demonstrations against the incumbent regime, according to AFP.