Thousands of people have taken to the streets around the world to claim International Workers’ Day. In Istanbul (Turkey), the rallies have ended with hundreds of people arrested and in France the protests have been defined by riots due to an atmosphere marked by the imminence of a coalition of leftist parties for the French legislative elections.
In Paris there were, like other years, riots on the sidelines of the main rallyattributed to small groups of hooded radicals who smashed and set fire to street furniture, fast food restaurants or bank branches.
Of the authorized march that departed uneventful Republic Squarethere was a marginal part that broke up and gathered at Place Léon Blum, next to Boulevard Voltaire. The police -there were 1,500 mobilized- launched tear gas to disperse.
So far, it has not been communicated amount of material damage, or if there were injuries or detainees. “The vandals come from spoiling the May 1 demonstrations, especially in Paris, perpetrating unacceptable violence. Full support for law enforcement,” French Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin said in a Twitter message.
188 arrested in Istanbul
At least 188 people have been arrested this Sunday in Istanbul for trying to participate in May Day demonstrations, banned for years by the authoritiesreports the Turkish newspaper Cumhuriyet.
“It has been intercepted and legal proceedings have been initiated against 164 people for unauthorized gathering for the purpose of demonstratingchant slogans, not disperse despite warnings from the security forces and resistance to authority,” reported the government delegation in Istanbul.
The Government delegation in Istanbul first reported that 164 people they had been “intercepted” and legal proceedings had been initiated against them “for unauthorized assembly for the purpose of demonstrating, chanting slogans, not dispersing despite warnings from the security forces and resistance to authority.” On the other hand, a group of 24 trade unionists was also arrested in the Besiktas neighborhood while trying to march towards Taksim, Cumhuriyet notes, bringing the total arrested to 188.
As usual for seven years, the Ministry of the Interior has prohibited labor movements from celebrating May Day in the emblematic Taksim Square, in the center of Istanbul, where until 2012 hundreds of thousands of people gathered to commemorate this day.
The square has been surrounded by strong security measures, with several streets closed to traffic and pedestrian traffic, and the Police have prevented numerous groups of people who tried to march towards Taksim from accessing the area. Many of those arrested are trade unionists or supporters of the extra-parliamentary Marxist party HKP.although there are also feminists and members of other civic movements.
An authorized celebration in a park in Maltepe, on the eastern outskirts of Istanbul, has attracted tens of thousands of peopleand the authorities have allowed certain union delegations to place flower wreaths in Taksim.
May Day is being celebrated in dozens of cities in Turkeygenerally peacefully, but both in Istanbul and Ankara there have been police charges against some groups of protesters.
The Russian protests, with allusions to Ukraine
Meanwhile, in Russia, the calls have alluded to the war campaign in Ukraine and with some trade unionists showing support for the Army. Members of the Communist Party and the ultra-nationalist Liberal Democratic Party of Russia (LDPR) have supported the protests.
Activists and supporters of the Communist Party gathered in the square near the Karl Marx monument in the Plaza del Teatro carrying portraits of Joseph Stalin Y Vladimir Lenin, and waving flags. “Dear comrades and friends, I congratulate you on May 1, the day of proletarian solidarity, the day of unity of all the workers of the world, for your dignity and your rights,” declared the leader of the Russian communists, Gennady Zyuganov.
He said that workers around the world are united, but “today they do not give a decent job, or a decent salary, much less peace.” He pointed out that now in Ukraine, Russia mainly fights for a multipolar world. “We are fighting for the Russian world, because the Russian world is not in their plans,” the communist leader said, referring to the West.
The Federation of Independent Trade Unions of Russia called for a small rally of cars and the laying of flowers in the eternal flame of Victory Park, an act during which some cars and trade unionists could be seen with scarves and hats with the letter “Z”, symbol of the campaign Russian military in Ukraine.
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