Three shot in Chile May Day clashes
Riot police disperse demonstrators with a water cannon during clashes following a May Day march in Santiago
Riot police disperse demonstrators with a water cannon during clashes following a May Day march in Santiago
(AFP/Martin BERNETTI)
Sun, May 1, 2022
Three people were wounded by gunfire and two arrested in clashes at May Day demonstrations in Chile, police said.
The shooting occurred during a Sunday march called by a union in the capital Santiago as some protesters erected barricades and entered commercial premises, clashing with merchants.
"There were clashes between street vendors who unfortunately used firearms and injured three people, two of them women and a third man was also injured by a ballistic impact," said Enrique Monras, chief of police for the metropolitan area.
Police confirmed two foreigners were arrested on suspicion of firing the shots.
The force used water cannon and tear gas to disperse the demonstrators.
President Gabriel Boric decried the violence, telling a news channel: "We are normalizing violence, we cannot allow criminal gangs to take over the streets of our country."
Separately, the main traditional May Day march, organized by the Central Unitaria de Trabajadores (CUT) union, passed without incident as thousands of people with flags and banners gathered in the Plaza Italia.
"We are happy, it is a special and particular day after two years of confinement (due to Covid) ... to recognize the work of many colleagues such as health, commerce and transport workers, who were fundamental in this pandemic," said CUT president David Acuna.
They were joined by Labor Minister Jeannette Jara, the first member of the Communist Party to hold the position since the return of democracy in Chile in 1990.
She was the architect of an agreement reached by the CUT and business organizations that will raise the minimum wage by 12.5 percent.
The minimum wage is set to reach 400,000 pesos ($470) per month from August. Boric has said his goal is to raise it to 500,000 pesos by 2026.
msa/gm/dl/mtp/leg
Sun, May 1, 2022
Three people were wounded by gunfire and two arrested in clashes at May Day demonstrations in Chile, police said.
The shooting occurred during a Sunday march called by a union in the capital Santiago as some protesters erected barricades and entered commercial premises, clashing with merchants.
"There were clashes between street vendors who unfortunately used firearms and injured three people, two of them women and a third man was also injured by a ballistic impact," said Enrique Monras, chief of police for the metropolitan area.
Police confirmed two foreigners were arrested on suspicion of firing the shots.
The force used water cannon and tear gas to disperse the demonstrators.
President Gabriel Boric decried the violence, telling a news channel: "We are normalizing violence, we cannot allow criminal gangs to take over the streets of our country."
Separately, the main traditional May Day march, organized by the Central Unitaria de Trabajadores (CUT) union, passed without incident as thousands of people with flags and banners gathered in the Plaza Italia.
"We are happy, it is a special and particular day after two years of confinement (due to Covid) ... to recognize the work of many colleagues such as health, commerce and transport workers, who were fundamental in this pandemic," said CUT president David Acuna.
They were joined by Labor Minister Jeannette Jara, the first member of the Communist Party to hold the position since the return of democracy in Chile in 1990.
She was the architect of an agreement reached by the CUT and business organizations that will raise the minimum wage by 12.5 percent.
The minimum wage is set to reach 400,000 pesos ($470) per month from August. Boric has said his goal is to raise it to 500,000 pesos by 2026.
msa/gm/dl/mtp/leg
Author: AFP|Update: 02.05.2022
Rallies in Paris quickly turned violent as youths clashed with police on the sidelines and buildings were vandalised / © AFP
Police and protesters clashed in Turkey and France during May Day rallies on Sunday, as tens of thousands marched across the world in support of workers' rights.
Turkish riot police detained scores of demonstrators in Istanbul, pinning some of them to the ground and dragging them away from the rally, which the governor's office said was unauthorised.
And rallies in Paris quickly turned violent as youths clashed with police on the sidelines and buildings were vandalised, though unions said more than 200,000 people joined demonstrations across France and most were peaceful.
May 1 is a public holiday in many countries and Sunday saw events on every continent.
European rallies sparked the most controversy with Turkish protesters gathering at Istanbul's Taksim Square, an area synonymous with anti-government protests, chanting "long live labour and freedom, long live May Day".
Turkish protesters were pinned to the ground and dragged away from the rally in Istanbul / © AFP
City officials said the group refused to disperse and 164 were detained, with government-approved rallies elsewhere in Turkey passing off peacefully.
French ministers denounced the violence in Paris and prosecutors said 50 people had been arrested.
Martine Haccoun, a 65-year-old retired doctor, told AFP she came to protest in the southern city of Marseille to show re-elected President Emmanuel Macron "that we didn't give him a blank cheque for five years".
She said many voted for Macron simply to stop far-right challenger Marine Le Pen.
- 'Not slogans' -
While scuffles were reported in Italian cities including Turin, thousands gathered in London and cities across Germany with no sign of trouble.
Anti-government protests intensified in Sri Lanka on May Day / © AFP
In Spain, around 10,000 people joined a demonstration in Madrid and dozens of other cities also held well-attended rallies.
Labour Minister Yolanda Diaz of the communist party said she wanted to show solidarity "with the workers of Ukraine, who today aren't able to protest".
In the Greek capital Athens, more than 10,000 joined rallies against a background of spiralling inflation.
Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis took to social media to promise a raise in the minimum wage by 50 euros a month.
"We honour the working people not with slogans, but with acts," he wrote on Twitter.
Kenyan Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta similarly used his May Day speech to promise a 12 percent hike in the minimum wage, though activists said it was not enough to keep pace with inflation.
- 'Pull by his ear' -
Turkish riot police moved in to quash a protest in Istanbul / © AFP
The mood was uglier in Sri Lanka, where the opposition showed rare unity in calling for President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to resign over the country's worst-ever economic crisis.
"It is time for us to pull him by his ear and kick him out," former legislator Hirunika Premachandra said at a rally in Colombo.
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa was also feeling the heat, being forced to leave an event when miners stormed the stage he was due to speak at and chanted "Cyril must go".
However, other leaders were able to harness the energy of the crowds.
Xiomara Castro, the new president of Honduras, was greeted by thousands chanting her name, and she responded by telling them she would govern for them and put an end to a "dark era" of corruption and drug trafficking.
Elsewhere in Latin America, one leftist-organized group in Buenos Aires protested repaying International Monetary Fund loans, while another group of pro- Argentina government demonstrators praised current policy.
Workers of the healthcare union demonstrate against the Venezuelan government of President Nicolas Maduro during a May Day (Labour Day) rally to mark the international day of the workers, in Caracas, on May 1, 2022 / © AFP
There were also two separate marches in the Venezuelan capital of Caracas, with hospital workers and other basic service employees calling for a "dignified salary" at one demonstration.
"People, listen, join the fight!" they chanted.
President Nicolas Maduro addressed the crowds at a separate pro-government march elsewhere in the city, blaming United States sanctions for his country's "economic storm" and announcing "Venezuela is headed for prosperity".
Thousands of May 1 demonstrators in Chile took to the streets only days after the government announced a 12.5 percent rise in the minimum wage, which is set to reach 400,000 pesos ($470) per month from August. President Gabriel Boric has said his goal is to raise it to 500,000 pesos by 2026.
May Day came too soon for many in China to enjoy what is usually one of the year's busiest holidays.
A series of lockdowns sparked by rising Covid cases meant restaurants and tourist sites were deserted during what is usually a frenetic period.
"Obviously it's bad in terms of our own self-interest, but it's necessary overall for the good of the country," said a young waiter at a deserted restaurant near the Forbidden City in Beijing.
burs-jxb/har/caw/
Protesters march during a May Day demonstration in Marseille, southern France, Sunday, May 1, 2022. May 1 is celebrated as the International Labour Day or May Day across the world.
A protester holds a sign reading "Stop Macron" during a May Day demonstration in Marseille, southern France, Sunday, May 1, 2022.
A woman dressed up as Marianne, a woman symbol of the French republic since the 1789 revolution, holds a French flag during a May Day demonstration in Marseille, southern France,
(AP Photo/Daniel Cole)
May Day rallies in Europe honor workers, protest govts
ELAINE GANLEY
People attend a May Day rally on International Workers Day in Belgrade, Serbia, Sunday, May 1, 2022.
A man holds a flag depicting from left, Friedrich Engels, Karl Marx and Vladimir Lenin, during a May Day rally on International Workers Day in Belgrade, Serbia, Sunday, May 1, 2022. Workers and activists marked May Day with defiant rallies and marches for better pay and working conditions.
ELAINE GANLEY
Federal Minister for Family Affairs Lisa Paus, fourth from right, and Governing Mayor of Berlin Franziska Giffey, center, hold a banner with writing in German reading "shape the future together" as they take part in the May Day main rally of the German Trade Union Federation (DGB), in Berlin, Sunday, May 1, 2022. (Joerg Carstensen/dpa via AP)
PARIS (AP) — Citizens and trade unions in cities around Europe were taking to the streets on Sunday for May Day marches, and to put out protest messages to their governments, notably in France where the holiday to honor workers was being used as a rallying cry against newly reelected President Emmanuel Macron.
May Day is a time of high emotion for participants and their causes, with police on the ready. Turkish police moved in quickly in Istanbul and encircled protesters near the barred-off Taksim Square — where 34 people were killed In 1977 during a May Day event when shots were fired into the crowd from a nearby building.
On Sunday, police detained 164 people for demonstrating without permits and resisting police at the square, the Istanbul governor’s office said. At a site on the Asian side of Istanbul, a May Day gathering drew thousands, singing, chanting and waving banners, a demonstration organized by the Confederation of Progressive Trade Unions of Turkey.
In Italy, after a two-year pandemic lull, an outdoor mega-concert was set for Rome with rallies and protests in cities across the country. Besides work, peace was an underlying theme with calls for an end to Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Italy’s three main labor unions were focusing their main rally in the hilltop town of Assisi, a frequent destination for peace protests. This year’s slogan is “Working for peace.”
“It’s a May Day of social and civil commitment for peace and labor,” said the head of Italy’s CISL union, Daniela Fumarola.
PARIS (AP) — Citizens and trade unions in cities around Europe were taking to the streets on Sunday for May Day marches, and to put out protest messages to their governments, notably in France where the holiday to honor workers was being used as a rallying cry against newly reelected President Emmanuel Macron.
May Day is a time of high emotion for participants and their causes, with police on the ready. Turkish police moved in quickly in Istanbul and encircled protesters near the barred-off Taksim Square — where 34 people were killed In 1977 during a May Day event when shots were fired into the crowd from a nearby building.
On Sunday, police detained 164 people for demonstrating without permits and resisting police at the square, the Istanbul governor’s office said. At a site on the Asian side of Istanbul, a May Day gathering drew thousands, singing, chanting and waving banners, a demonstration organized by the Confederation of Progressive Trade Unions of Turkey.
In Italy, after a two-year pandemic lull, an outdoor mega-concert was set for Rome with rallies and protests in cities across the country. Besides work, peace was an underlying theme with calls for an end to Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Italy’s three main labor unions were focusing their main rally in the hilltop town of Assisi, a frequent destination for peace protests. This year’s slogan is “Working for peace.”
“It’s a May Day of social and civil commitment for peace and labor,” said the head of Italy’s CISL union, Daniela Fumarola.
People attend a May Day rally on International Workers Day in Belgrade, Serbia, Sunday, May 1, 2022.
A man holds a flag depicting from left, Friedrich Engels, Karl Marx and Vladimir Lenin, during a May Day rally on International Workers Day in Belgrade, Serbia, Sunday, May 1, 2022. Workers and activists marked May Day with defiant rallies and marches for better pay and working conditions.
(AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic)
Other protests were planned far and wide in Europe, including in Slovakia and the Czech Republic, where students and others planned to rally in support of Ukraine as Communists, anarchists and anti-European Union groups held their own gatherings.
In France, the May Day rallies — a week after the presidential election — are aimed at showing Macron the opposition he could face in his second five-year term and to power up against his centrists before June legislative elections. Opposition parties, notably the far left and far right, are looking to break his government’s majority.
Protests were planned across France with a focus on Paris where the Communist-backed CGT union was leading the main march through eastern Paris, joined by a handful of other unions. All are pressing Macron for policies that put the people first and condemning his plan to raise the retirement age from 62 to 65.
In a first, far-right leader Marine Le Pen was absent from her party’s traditional wreath-laying at the foot of a statue of Joan of Arc, replaced by the interim president of her National Rally party. Le Pen was defeated by Macron in last Sunday’s runoff of the presidential election, and plans to campaign to keep her seat as a lawmaker.
“I’ve come to tell the French that the voting isn’t over. There is a third round, the legislative elections,” said Jordan Bardella, “and it would be unbelievable to leave full power to Emmanuel Macron.”
___
Nicole Winfield in Rome, and Zeynep Bilginsoy in Istanbul, contributed to this report.
In France, the May Day rallies — a week after the presidential election — are aimed at showing Macron the opposition he could face in his second five-year term and to power up against his centrists before June legislative elections. Opposition parties, notably the far left and far right, are looking to break his government’s majority.
Protests were planned across France with a focus on Paris where the Communist-backed CGT union was leading the main march through eastern Paris, joined by a handful of other unions. All are pressing Macron for policies that put the people first and condemning his plan to raise the retirement age from 62 to 65.
In a first, far-right leader Marine Le Pen was absent from her party’s traditional wreath-laying at the foot of a statue of Joan of Arc, replaced by the interim president of her National Rally party. Le Pen was defeated by Macron in last Sunday’s runoff of the presidential election, and plans to campaign to keep her seat as a lawmaker.
“I’ve come to tell the French that the voting isn’t over. There is a third round, the legislative elections,” said Jordan Bardella, “and it would be unbelievable to leave full power to Emmanuel Macron.”
___
Nicole Winfield in Rome, and Zeynep Bilginsoy in Istanbul, contributed to this report.
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