Tensions erupted in Paris as some protesters smashed windows in banks, a fast food restaurant and a real estate agency, apparently partly the work of masked men dressed in black. French police came in, launching tear gas. This failed to stop a woman from attacking a firefighter who was trying to put out a fire in the street. Home Secretary Gerald Darmanin said 45 people had been arrested so far, including the young woman. Eight police officers were injured, he said, calling the perpetrators “thugs” trying to “stop the right to protest”. May Day is often a time of high sentiment for workers in Europe, and protests over the past two years have been limited by pandemic restrictions. Turkish police quickly entered Constantinople to encircle the protesters near Taksim Square – where 34 people were killed in 1977 during May Day. On Sunday, Turkish police arrested 164 people for protesting without permits and resisting police in the square, the Istanbul governor’s office said. On the Asian side of the great city of Istanbul, a rally organized on May Day brought together 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 she lost. Giffey, of the center-left Social Democrats, was met with strong protests during her speech. Giffey called the egg fly “neither useful nor politically valuable.” In Italy, after two years of pandemic rest, a large open-air concert took place in Rome after gatherings and demonstrations in cities across the country. In addition to improving conditions for workers, peace was a key issue, with many calling for an end to Russia’s war in Ukraine. Italy’s three main trade unions held their main rally in the hilltop town of Assisi, a frequent destination for peaceful protests. “It’s a May Day social and political commitment to peace and work,” said Daniela Fumarola, head of the Italian union CISL. Rising inflation and fears of impending food shortages from the war in Ukraine have fueled discontent around the world. Thousands of workers, unemployed and retired, marched peacefully in the capital of northern Macedonia, Skopje, demanding pay rises and respect for workers’ rights. Inflation, which fell 8.8% year on year in March, is at a 14-year high. Darko Dimovski, head of the country’s trade union federation, told the crowd that workers were demanding an overall pay rise. “The financial crisis has eaten up workers’ wages,” he said. In France, May Day rallies – a week after the country’s presidential election – were aimed at showing the central Macron the opposition it could face in its second five-year term. Opposition parties, especially the far left and the far right, are trying to break the majority of his government in the French parliamentary elections in June. The Paris march was dominated by far-left leader Jean-Luc Melanson, who finished third in the first round of the presidential election and is in deep dialogue with other left-wing parties in France, including the once-dominant Socialists who are struggling to exist. Melanson called on potential partners to ally themselves to prevent Macron’s centrists from gaining control of parliament as they do now. “Our goal is to win,” he said. About 250 marches and demonstrations took place in France. Everyone was pushing for Macron policies that put people first and condemned his plan to raise France’s retirement age from 62 to 65. Macron says this is the only way the government can continue to provide good retirement benefits. . “May Day is the time to gather to reduce working hours. “This reduction means one key thing – that workers should get a bigger share of the wealth,” Melanson said, condemning the violence on the way to Paris, which he said overshadowed workers’ concerns. In a first, French far-right leader Marine Le Pen was absent from the traditional laying of wreaths by her party at the foot of a statue of Joan of Arc, who was replaced by her party’s interim president, the National Rally. Le Pen was defeated by Macron in the second round of the April 24 presidential election and plans to campaign to retain her seat as an MP. “I came to tell the French that the vote was not over. “There is a third round, the parliamentary elections,” said Jordan Bardella of the National Rally. “It would be unbelievable to leave full power to Emanuel Macron.”
Nicole Winfield in Rome, Zeynep Bilginsoy in Istanbul, Demetris Nellas in Athens, Oleg Cetinic in Paris contributed to this exhibition.
