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May Day around the globe: Workers demand rights, respect

Manifestations in many countries. Clashes in Paris and Athens

01 May, 17:13
(ANSA-AP) - BERLIN, 1 May - Higher salaries, better working conditions, maternity leave, minimum wage and an end to discrimination against temporary or foreign workers: These were among the concerns as hundreds of thousands of union members and labor activists rallied around the world to mark May Day. The tradition of May Day marches for workers' rights began in the United States in the 1880s. It quickly spread to other countries at a time when industrialization pitted poorly paid employees who had few protections and little power against increasingly dominant factory employers and landowners. Over the decades, the May Day protests have also become an opportunity to air general economic grievances or political demands.

Here's a look at Wednesday's protests : ___ VIOLENT RADICALS DISRUPT MAY DAY IN FRANCE French police clashed with stone-throwing protesters who set fi res and smashed up vehicles as thousands of people gathered for May Day rallies under tight security. About 165 arrests were m ade.

Police repeatedly used tear gas to try to control the crowd gat hering near Paris' Montparnasse train station for the main prot est. Some protesters were injured. Associated Press reporters s aw groups of hooded, black-clad people shouting anti-police slo gans, mixing with other protesters wearing yellow vests or wavi ng union flags. France's interior minister warned earlier there was a risk that "radical activists" could join the protests in Paris and elsew here, and deployed 7,400 police to counter them.

___ RUSSIAN WORKERS MARCH AT RED SQUARE Authorities in Russia said about 100,000 people took part in a May Day rally in central Moscow organized by Kremlin-friendly t rade unions on Red Square. Opposition activists said more than 100 people were detained in several cities, including for parti cipating in unsanctioned political protests. In St. Petersburg, police arrested over 60 supporters of opposition leader Alexei Navalny.

Some of them carried signs saying "Putin is not immor tal," in reference to Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has been at the helm of the country since 2000.

___ DETENTIONS AT TURKEY'S MAY DAY RALLIES Turkish police detained May Day demonstrators trying to march t oward Istanbul's main square, which has been declared off-limit s by authorities, who cited security concerns. Still, small gro ups chanting "May Day is Taksim and it cannot be banned," attem pted to break the blockade, with dozens reportedly detained. Ta ksim Square has held symbolic value for Turkey's labor movement since 34 people were killed there during a May Day rally in 19 77 when shots were fired into the crowd from a nearby building.

___ SRI LANKA CALLS OFF MAY DAY RALLIES In Sri Lanka, major political parties called off the traditiona l May Day rallies due to security concerns following the Easter bombings, which killed 253 people and were claimed by militant s linked to the Islamic State group.

___ GERMAN UNIONS DENOUNCE NATIONALISM Ahead of rallies across Germany, the country's biggest trade un ion group urged voters to participate in this month's European Parliament elections and reject nationalism and right-wing popu lism. The DGB, a confederation of unions with almost 6 million members, warned that the political and economic turmoil in Brit ain following its vote to leave the European Union nationalism "shows what happens if those who stoke fear but have no plan fo r the future gain the upper hand." ___ KOREANS DEMAND BETTER WORKING CONDITIONS Wearing headbands and swinging their fists, protesters in South Korea's capital of Seoul rallied near City Hall, marching unde r banners denouncing deteriorating working conditions and deman ding equal treatment and pay for temporary workers. A major Sou th Korean umbrella trade union also issued a joint statement wi th a North Korean workers' organization calling for the Koreas to push ahead with joint economic projects, despite lack of pro gress in nuclear negotiations between Washington and Pyongyang.

___ MAY DAY PARALYZES TRANSPORT IN GREECE Union rallies in Greece paralyzed national rail, island ferry a nd other transport services. Hundreds of people gathered in cen tral Athens on Wednesday for three separate marches to parliame nt organized by rival unions and left-wing groups. ___ SPANISH WORKERS PRESS NEW GOVERMENT Spain's workers marched in its major cities to make their voice s heard days before acting Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez starts negotiating with other parties to form a new government. Leadin g labor unions are pressing Sánchez to roll back business-frien dly labor and fiscal reforms that have remained in place since the conservatives were in charge. ___ GARMENT WORKERS SEEK MATERNITY LEAVE In Bangladesh, hundreds of garment workers and members of labor organizations rallied in Dhaka, the capital, to demand better working conditions and higher wages. Nazma Akter, president of one of Bangladesh's largest unions, said female garment workers were also demanding six months of maternity leave and protecti on against sexual abuse and violence in the workplace. ___ SOUTH AFRICA'S MAY DAY TURNS POLITICAL An opposition party in South Africa used May Day to rally voter s a week before the country's national election. Economic Freed om Fighters members, wearing their signature red shirts and ber ets, gathered at a stadium in Johannesburg to cheer populist stances that have put pressure on the ruling African National Congress to address topics like economic inequality and land reform. ___ FILIPINO WORKERS DEMAND MINIMUM WAGE RISE In the Philippines, thousands of workers and labor activists ma rched near the Malacanang presidential palace in Manila to dema nd that President Rodrigo Duterte's government address labor is sues including a minimum wage increase and the lack of contracts for many workers. One labor group said its members would not vote for any candidate endorsed by Duterte in upcoming senate e lections and burned an effigy of the president. ___ FOREIGN WORKERS PROTEST IN HONG KONG Construction workers, bus drivers, freelancers and domestic wor kers from outside the country joined a Labor Day march through central Hong Kong. The protesters marched from Victoria Park to the main government offices, some carrying banners reading "Ma xed Out!" The Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions is demand ing a maximum standard work week of 44 hours and an hourly mini mum wage of at least 54.7 Hong Kong dollars ($7). ___ LOW-PAID WORKERS PROTEST IN JAKARTA Thousands of low-paid workers took to the streets in Indonesia in Southeast Asia's largest economy. Laborers in Jakarta, the c apital, gathered at national monuments and elsewhere, shouting demands for higher wages, better benefits and improved working conditions. ___ Associated Press journalists from around the world contributed to this report. FRANK JORDANS and KIM TONG-HYUNG/ (ANSA-AP).

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