Violent clashes mar May Day
Wednesday, May 2, 2007
VIOLENT clashes marred massive May Day rallies around the world Tuesday, with riot police firing warning shots to disperse protestors in Istanbul and Macau, while hundreds were taken into custody.
The traditional day of workers' solidarity was marked with widely varying turnouts, from several hundred Iranians who took to the streets of Tehran to demand better working conditions, to 100,000 Italian union activists who marched in Turin.
There was an historic rally in South Korea, when workers from the two Koreas held the first joint May Day celebrations to call for the reunification of their divided homeland.
In Istanbul, police fired shots in the air and used tear gas and a water cannon as they fought pitched battles yesterday with left-wing demonstrators intent on holding a banned rally in one of the city's central squares.
Istanbul Governor Muammer Guler said more than 580 people had been detained, including members of "illegal organisations". He did not elaborate.
Public transport was paralysed in the sprawling city of more than 12 million, where tensions are already running high between the army and government over a disputed presidential election.
The authorities had banned marchers from accessing Taksim Square to mark the 30th anniversary there of "Bloody May Day" — when 34 people died after unknown gunmen fired on a peaceful crowd triggering mass panic.
In rare scenes of civil unrest in the southern Chinese enclave of Macau, police also fired warning shots with what were thought to be starter pistols after a crowd of more than 1,000 broke through police cordons lining a May Day march route.
The protest had started peacefully with demonstrators calling for a reduction in the number of illegal workers flooding into the enclave.
But the mood soured and witnesses said they saw police dragging several protesters from the crowd by their hair. Another was seen clutching a facial wound.
In Manila, riot police fanned out as 5,000 people waving red banners with the communist gold hammer and sickle were blocked from marching on the palace of President Gloria Arroyo.
They faced off with police for more than an hour before moving away, waving red flags and demanding Arroyo's resignation.
In 2001, supporters of deposed populist president Joseph Estrada used the occasion to march on the palace in what degenerated into the worst rioting in Manila since the fall of dictator Ferdinand Marcos in 1986.
In Thailand, about 10,000 workers marched through the centre of the capital, Bangkok, railing against the military-backed government which took power after a coup last September and demanding an immediate return to democracy.
Tens of thousands of people across Russia called for higher salaries and pensions in demonstrations that for the most part carefully avoided criticism of the Kremlin.
Russian state television showed crowds gathering in cities from Vladivostok to Moscow with demonstrators, mostly organised by the trade unions, Communist Party, and pro-Kremlin parties, waving multi-coloured balloons and blue or red flags.
In Turin, around 100,000 people turned out for a rally that began with a minute's silence for all those workers who had died at their place of work.AFP
The traditional day of workers' solidarity was marked with widely varying turnouts, from several hundred Iranians who took to the streets of Tehran to demand better working conditions, to 100,000 Italian union activists who marched in Turin.
There was an historic rally in South Korea, when workers from the two Koreas held the first joint May Day celebrations to call for the reunification of their divided homeland.
In Istanbul, police fired shots in the air and used tear gas and a water cannon as they fought pitched battles yesterday with left-wing demonstrators intent on holding a banned rally in one of the city's central squares.
Istanbul Governor Muammer Guler said more than 580 people had been detained, including members of "illegal organisations". He did not elaborate.
Public transport was paralysed in the sprawling city of more than 12 million, where tensions are already running high between the army and government over a disputed presidential election.
The authorities had banned marchers from accessing Taksim Square to mark the 30th anniversary there of "Bloody May Day" — when 34 people died after unknown gunmen fired on a peaceful crowd triggering mass panic.
In rare scenes of civil unrest in the southern Chinese enclave of Macau, police also fired warning shots with what were thought to be starter pistols after a crowd of more than 1,000 broke through police cordons lining a May Day march route.
The protest had started peacefully with demonstrators calling for a reduction in the number of illegal workers flooding into the enclave.
But the mood soured and witnesses said they saw police dragging several protesters from the crowd by their hair. Another was seen clutching a facial wound.
In Manila, riot police fanned out as 5,000 people waving red banners with the communist gold hammer and sickle were blocked from marching on the palace of President Gloria Arroyo.
They faced off with police for more than an hour before moving away, waving red flags and demanding Arroyo's resignation.
In 2001, supporters of deposed populist president Joseph Estrada used the occasion to march on the palace in what degenerated into the worst rioting in Manila since the fall of dictator Ferdinand Marcos in 1986.
In Thailand, about 10,000 workers marched through the centre of the capital, Bangkok, railing against the military-backed government which took power after a coup last September and demanding an immediate return to democracy.
Tens of thousands of people across Russia called for higher salaries and pensions in demonstrations that for the most part carefully avoided criticism of the Kremlin.
Russian state television showed crowds gathering in cities from Vladivostok to Moscow with demonstrators, mostly organised by the trade unions, Communist Party, and pro-Kremlin parties, waving multi-coloured balloons and blue or red flags.
In Turin, around 100,000 people turned out for a rally that began with a minute's silence for all those workers who had died at their place of work.AFP
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