PARIS, France — Thousands of people marched in cities all over Europe on May Day to respect workers and put pressure on governments to do more for their population. Protesters in France chanted chants against freshly elected President Emmanuel Macron, setting the tone for his second term.
Tensions rose in Paris, with protestors smashing windows of banks and a fast-food restaurant, as well as ripping up street signs. Apparently the work of black-clad and masked individuals. Police stormed the scene, firing tear gas canisters.
For trade unionists and other workers, May Day is a time of intense passion, and protests have been curtailed in the previous two years because of pandemic restrictions.
In Istanbul, Turkish police moved rapidly to encircle demonstrators in the closed-off Taksim Square, where 34 people had been murdered. Shots were fired into the crowd from a building during a May Day celebration in 1977.
Turkish police detained 164 individuals in the plaza on Sunday for demonstrating without licenses and obstructing police, according to the Istanbul governor's office. Thousands of people gathered on the Asian side of Istanbul for a May Day rally organized by the Confederation of Progressive Trade Unions of Turkey, who sang, sang, and waved banners.
After a two-year hiatus in the epidemic, an outdoor mega-concert was planned for Rome, with rallies and protests taking place around the country. Apart from employment, there was a recurring topic of peace, with many people calling for an end to Russia's war in Ukraine.
The major gathering of Italy's three main labor unions was held in Assisi, a hilltop town that is frequently the site of peaceful protests.
"It's a May Day of social and civil commitment for peace and labor," said Daniela Fumarola, president of Italy's CISL union.
Inflation was rising, and worries of impending food shortages arose as a result of the conflict in Ukraine.
Thousands of employees, unemployed people, and pensioners marched peacefully in Skopje, the capital of North Macedonia, to demand higher wages and respect for workers' rights. Inflation is at a 14-year high, with an annual rate of 8.8 percent in March.
Workers are requesting a raise in pay across the board, according to Darko Dimovski, the chairman of the country's Federation of Trade Unions.
"The economic downturn has eaten away at workers' wages," he added.
The May Day marches in France were meant to demonstrate to centrist Macron the resistance he may face in his second five-year term, which began a week after the country's presidential election. In France's legislative election in June, opposition groups, particularly from the far left and far-right, are attempting to shatter his government's majority.
The far-left leader Jean-Luc Melenchon, who came third in the presidential election and is currently in discussions with other leftist parties in France, including the once-dominant Socialists, dominated the Paris march. Melenchon urged prospective allies to join forces in order to prevent Macron's centrists from gaining control of parliament as they do currently.
"Victory is our aim," he stated.
Around 250 marches and rallies were staged around France, with the major march through eastern Paris led by the Communist-backed CGT union. All were pressuring Macron to pursue policies that prioritize people above profit, as well as opposing his plan to raise the retirement age in France from 62 to 65. Macron claims that this is the only way the government can continue to provide the French with adequate retirement benefits.
"May Day is a rallying point for a decrease in working hours. That decrease means one thing: employees should receive a higher part of the money, according to Melenchon.
For the first time, far-right leader Marine Le Pen was absent from her National Rally party's annual wreath-laying ceremony at the foot of a statue of Joan of Arc and was replaced by the temporary president. Le Pen was beaten by Macron in the presidential runoff last Sunday, and she wants to compete for re-election as a senator.
"I've come to inform the French that the election is still ongoing." The parliamentary elections are the third round," stated Jordan Bardella of National Rally. "It would be unthinkable to give Emmanuel Macron complete control."
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