May Day rallies across Europe urge more help as inflation bites
Tens of thousands of people marched in cities around Europe yesterday for May Day protests to honour workers and shame governments into doing more for their citizens.
In France, protesters shouted slogans against newly elected President Emmanuel Macron, a development that may set the tone for his second term.
Tensions erupted in Paris, as some demonstrators smashed windows at some banks, a fast-food restaurant and a real estate agency, apparently partially the work of masked men dressed in black. French police moved in, firing rounds of tear gas.
Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said 45 people had been detained so far. Eight police officers were injured, he said, calling the perpetrators of the violence “thugs” who were trying “to stop the right to demonstrate”.
May Day is often a time of high emotions for workers in Europe, and protests in the past two years have been limited by pandemic health measures.
Turkish police moved in quickly in Istanbul to encircle protesters near Taksim Square — where 34 people were killed In 1977 during a May Day event. Turkish police detained 164 people yesterday for demonstrating without permits and resisting police at the square, the Istanbul governor’s office said. On the Anatolian Side of sprawling Istanbul, a May Day unionorganised gathering drew thousands who sang, chanted and waved banners.
Berlin Mayor Franziska Giffey briefly interrupted her May Day speech at a trade union rally where someone threw an egg at her but missed. Giffey, of the centre-left Social Democrats, was met by loud protests during her speech. Giffey called the egg tossing “neither helpful nor politically valuable”.
In Italy, after a two-year pandemic lull, an outdoor mega-concert was being held in Rome after rallies and protests in cities across the country. Besides improving conditions for workers, peace was an underlying theme, with many calls for an end to Russia’s war in Ukraine. Italy’s three main labour unions held their main rally in the hilltop town of Assisi, a frequent destination for peace protests.
“It’s a May Day of social and civil commitment for peace and labour,” said the head of Italy’s CISL union, Daniela Fumarola.
In Russia, a motorcade organised by the country’s trade unions supportive of the invasion of Ukraine finished its cross-country trip in Moscow yesterday to mark May Day. Participating were 70 cars representing all Russian regions from Vladivostok to Astrakhan, as well as the Russia-backed separatist administrations controlling parts of Ukraine’s Donetsk and Luhansk regions.
May Day celebrations in Russia also saw the arrests of anti-war protesters and bystanders across the country, including some who demonstrated in support of the authorities.
Rising inflation and fears of upcoming food shortages from the war in Ukraine were feeding discontent around the world.
Thousands of workers, unemployed people and retirees marched peacefully in North Macedonia’s capital of Skopje, demanding wage increases and respect for workers’ rights. Inflation, running at an annual clip of 8.8 per cent in March, is at a 14-year-high.
Darko Dimovski, head of the country’s Federation of Trade Unions, told the crowd that workers are demanding an across-the-board wage increase. “The economic crisis has eaten up workers salaries,” he said.