USA May 1 Labor day: Seattle ‘riot’: Police deploy flashbangs, tear gas against May Day marchers

Protesters at a May Day march in Seattle, Washington clashed with police during what law enforcement called "a riot" on Friday. Officers deployed flashbangs and pepper spray to try and get the crowd under control.

Hundreds of demonstrators took to the streets Friday to participate in pro-worker, anti-police-brutality rallies, as well as one that was billed as anti-capitalist. According to the Seattle Times, one protester broke a window and others threw rocks at police before law enforcement responded with flash bangs.

Three officers have been injured at the scene of a melee at Broadway and Howell, the Seattle Police Department tweeted, two of which were hurt seriously. A total of fifteen people have been arrested across the city, police said.

One protester has reportedly thrown a burning object into a vehicle. Police said fires have been ignited at Seattle Plaza and that 25 vehicles have been damaged.

Read more: Seattle ‘riot’: Police deploy flashbangs, tear gas against May Day marchers (VIDEOS) — RT USA

The meaning of May 1 - International Labour Day

Beltane, Floralia: Spring Fertility Festivals, International Labour Day, the United States of America, the USSR, Australia and Rosa Luxemburg: the soup that created International Labour Day, reminding us of the struggle for workers' rights for which thousands of activists struggled for centuries. Today, they are under threat.

We trace a brief outline of the history of International Labour Day from the Pagan fertility festival - Beltane - to the Roman festival Floralia, to the fight for an 8-hour working day in the United States of America at the end of the 19th century - where International Labour Day has its roots, to the internationalization of the movement. Curiously, the USA is one of the few countries which does not have a public holiday on May 1.

We trace a brief outline of the history of International Labour Day from the Pagan fertility festival - Beltane - to the Roman festival Floralia, to the fight for an 8-hour working day in the United States of America at the end of the 19th century - where International Labour Day has its roots, to the internationalization of the movement. Curiously, the USA is one of the few countries which does not have a public holiday on May 1.

For all the arguments about free speech and the need to compete, we should take a close look at a political system in which most Americans don't have a voice in the process and where, even worse, the outcomes are biased toward certain segments of the nation who can pay to play. This is one issue where the left and right, as well as the slim center, can find agreement.

Read the meaning of May 1 - International Labour Day - English pravda.ru

European Labor Day: Thousands rally against European austerity on May Day - by Clare Kane

Workers hit by lower living standards and record high unemployment staged May Day protests across Europe on Wednesday, hoping to persuade euro zone governments of the case for easing austerity measures and boosting growth.

There had "never been a May 1 with more reason to take to the streets", said Candido Mendez, head of UGT in Spain, one of two main unions that called on workers and the unemployed to join more than 80 demonstrations across the country.

Trains and ferries were canceled in Greece, and bank and hospital staff walked off the job after the main public and private sector unions there called a 24-hour strike, the latest in a string of protests in a country in its sixth year of recession.

About 1,000 police officers were deployed in Athens, but the demonstration passed off peacefully, with about 5,000 striking workers, pensioners and students marching to parliament holding banners reading: "We won't become slaves, take to the streets!"

Italy's new Prime Minister Enrico Letta told Germany on Tuesday that his government would meet its budget commitments but expected Europe to drop its austerity mantra and do more to lift growth.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, seen by many in southern Europe as the champion of the euro zone's belt-tightening approach, struck a conciliatory tone, saying "budget consolidation and growth need not be contradictory".

Tens of thousands marched in Italy's major cities to demand government action to tackle unemployment - at 11.5 percent overall and 40 percent among the young - and an end to austerity and tax evasion. Most marches were peaceful, but demonstrators in Turin threw hollowed eggs filled with black paint at police.

Italy's new Prime Minister Enrico Letta told Germany on Tuesday that his government would meet its budget commitments but expected Europe to drop its austerity mantra and do more to lift growth.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, seen by many in southern Europe as the champion of the euro zone's belt-tightening approach, struck a conciliatory tone, saying "budget consolidation and growth need not be contradictory".

In Istanbul, Turkish riot police fired water cannon and tear gas to disperse crowds gathering for a rally on what has become a traditional labor holiday. A Reuters photographer said at least six people were injured in the clashes.

Thousands of police were stationed across the city center to block access to the main Taksim square. Authorities often use force to prevent the rally in the city center, having this year denied trade unions permission to march on Taksim, saying construction work there would make it too dangerous.
 
Read more: Thousands rally against European austerity on May Day | Reuters

May Day is marked around the world with demands for stronger labor rights

May 1, Labour Day

Banging drums and waving flags, hundreds of thousands of workers marked May Day in European cities Tuesday with a mix of anger and gloom over austerity measures imposed by leaders trying to contain the eurozone's intractable debt crisis.

Taking the baton from Asia, where unions demanded wage increases as they transformed the day from one celebrating workers rights to one of international protest, workers turned out in droves in Greece, France and Spain - the latest focus of a debt nightmare that has already forced three eurozone countries to seek financial bailouts.

In the United States, demonstrations, strikes and acts of civil disobedience were planned, including what could be the country's most high-profile Occupy rallies since the anti-Wall Street encampments came down in the fall.

Under a gray, threatening Madrid sky that reflected the dark national mood, 25-year Adriana Jaime confided she turned out because she speaks three foreign languages and has a masters degree as a translator - but last worked for what she derided as peanuts in a university research project that was to last three years but was cut to three months. Jaime has been unemployed for six months, and sees her future as grim at best.

In France, tens of thousands of workers, leftists and union leaders rallied ahead of a presidential runoff election Sunday that a Socialist is expected to win for the first time since 1988 - a potential turning point in Europe's austerity drive.

Anger has emerged during the campaign at austerity measures pushed by European Union leaders and conservative President Nicolas Sarkozy. Many voters fear Sarkozy will erode France's welfare and worker protections, and see him as too friendly with wealthy. Challenger and poll favorite Francois Hollande has promised high taxes on the rich.

In debt-crippled Greece, more than 2,000 people marched through central Athens in subdued protests. Minor scuffles broke out in Athens when young men targeted political party stands, destroying two and partially burning another. There were no injuries.

Italian Labor Minister Elsa Fornero insisted on the need to reform labor market laws that make it virtually impossible for employers to fire workers in some situations, discouraging hiring. Because of that gridlock and the lack of work in Italy, she said, "It's not a nice May 1st."

The German economy is churning and unemployment is at a record low, but unions held May Day rallies anyway. The DGB umbrella union group sharply criticized Europe's treaty enshrining fiscal discipline and the resulting austerity measures across the continent. The group called instead for a "Marshall Plan" stimulus program to revive the depressed economies of crisis-hit eurozone nations.

Around 100,000 people in Moscow - including President Dmitry Medvedev and President-elect Vladimir Putin - took part in the main May Day march through the city center, though not to protest the government.

Television images showed the two leaders happily chatting with participants on the clear-and-cool spring day. Many banners and placards criticized the Russian opposition movement that has become more prominent in Moscow over the past half-year.

Read more: PhotoBlog - May Day is marked around the world with demands for stronger labor rights

Canada May 1 Labor Day: Stay home, unless you're going to a rally, Occupy organizers say

Occupy groups across the country are planning a general strike on what is also International Workers' Day, calling for people to stay home from work, school, and shopping Tuesday.

Groups across the country are also planning rallies. In Ottawa, Occupiers will protest at Prime Minister Stephen Harper's office.

In Toronto, protesters are planning to rally at City Hall, followed by a 24-hour reoccupation at an undisclosed location, the group says on its website.
Vancouver Occupiers are also planning a rally outside the Vancouver Art Gallery Tuesday afternoon.

Read More: Stay home, unless you're going to a rally, Occupy organizers say | Canada | News | Calgary Sun

May 1 Labor Day: ‘General strike’ to hit the US today

In more than 100 cities from Washington State to the District of Columbia, protesters are orchestrating a massive country-wide demonstration on Tuesday, May 1, and their plans call for what could be the biggest event of its like in recent memory.

In locales like New York City, San Francisco, California and at least 100 cities in between, thousands of demonstrators are expected to take to the streets on Tuesday for a national day of protest.

Originating out of the Occupy Wall Street movement, what began as just a gathering of a few like-minded individuals in Lower Manhattan last year has spawned protests from coast to coast and in cities and countries across the world. Now nearly seven months after OWS first took hold in New York’s Zuccotti Park, occupiers across the nation and even abroad will be assembling on May 1 for a massive general strike being advertised as “a day without the 99 percent.”

Although the Occupy movement is one that lacks any formal leadership, OccupyWallStreet.org has acted as a major source of OWS-related bulletins since the protests took hold in September. On the site this week, the webmasters call for protesters to avoid attending both work and school and call for demonstrators to avoid making purchases as well.

For more: General strike’ to hit the US on May First — RT