Le Pen and Macron Trade Barbs amid May Day Clashes

France's May Day: Unions, Citizens Split Over Presidential Vote

Un 1er-Mai contre l'austérité et Nicolas Sarkozy
REUTERS FRANCE: PARIS - Des dizaines de milliers de personnes ont défilé mardi en France pour dire non à l'austérité imposée selon eux par l'Union européenne et, très souvent, manifester leur rejet de Nicolas Sarkozy à cinq jours du second tour de la présidentielle. » | Reuters | mardi 01 mai 2012

REUTERS FRANCE: De Paris à Athènes, un 1er-Mai contre l'austérité : ATHENES - Des dizaines de milliers de personnes ont défilé mardi dans le sud de l'Europe pour protester contre les mesures d'austérité à l'occasion du 1er-Mai, qui a pris cette année un tour particulier à quelques jours des échéances électorales en Grèce et en France. ¶ En France, à cinq jours du second tour de l'élection présidentielle entre Nicolas Sarkozy et François Hollande, près de 290 cortèges sont annoncés par la CGT, dont l'un dans l'après-midi à Paris, où les marcheurs auront été précédés par une manifestation du Front national et où se tiendra au même moment un meeting politique organisé par le président sortant. » | par Renee Maltezou | Reuters | mardi 01 mai 2012

Violent May Day Protests in Athens
LOS ANGELES TIMES: The rioting signals growing social unrest as the Greek government prepares to announce additional austerity measures to secure rescue loans from the EU and International Monetary Fund.

Demonstrators clash with police outside the Greek Parliament during a massive May Day demonstration by leftist groups to protest austerity measures instituted by the government. Photo: Los Angeles Times
Reporting from Athens

Wielding red flags and hurling crude gas bombs, dozens of militant youths clashed with riot police in central Athens on Saturday, signaling swelling social unrest as the cash-strapped Greek government prepares to announce additional austerity measures required to win rescue loans from the European Union and the International Monetary Fund.

The clashes came during massive May Day protests called by Greece's powerful trade unions and left-wing political parties in a desperate bid to block the plans for additional wage cuts, tax hikes and pension reductions.

"The bill should go to those who looted this country for decades, not to the workers," said Spiros Papaspirou, head of Greece's powerful Adedy civil servants union. "This is the most savage, unjust and unprovoked attack workers have ever faced."

Saturday's protests drew nearly 20,000 workers to the streets of the capital, bringing traffic and trade to a standstill as demonstrators filed by the Finance Ministry building chanting slogans against the government, the EU and the IMF. >>> Anthee Carassava, Special to the Los Angeles Times | Saturday, May 01,2010

Riot Police Working Overtime as Unions and Anarchists Link Arms for May Day
Police use tear gas against protesters during an outlawed May Day rally in central Istanbul. Photo courtesy of TimesOnline
TIMESONLINE: Protesters turned traditional May Day demonstrations into a rallying call against global capitalism as unrest spread through city streets across Europe yesterday.

Politicians in Germany and France had been warning that the financial crisis was about to spark social unrest. In some towns the words became reality, even if the skirmishes and petrol bombings felt choreographed.

“We want social disturbances, upheaval, and we will do everything towards that end,” said Markus Bernhardt, a spokesman for Class Struggle Bloc, which helped to steer the riots. “The system is violent and now violence is being met by violence.”

Unions estimated that 484,000 people took part in 400 protests across Germany. Riots in Berlin began on Thursday night when cars and rubbish containers were set alight. On May Day morning 700 anarchists blocked a railway station in an attempt to sabotage a neo-Nazi march.

A force of 5,000 German police officers found it difficult to contain the rioting. Officials said 48 officers were hurt and 57 people detained. “One can only advise drivers not to park their cars on the street,” Dieter Glietsch, the head of the Berlin police, said. >>> Roger Boyes in Berlin and Charles Bremner in Paris | Saturday, May 2, 2009

May Day Violence: Hamburg
SPIEGELONLINE INTERNATIONAL: May 1 is a traditional day of workers' unity rallies in Europe, but in Germany the day often brings clashes, particularly between anti-fascist leftists and neo-Nazis. On Thursday there were some isolated incidents in Berlin but it was Hamburg that saw the worst rioting.

Major May 1 riots rocked the northern German port city of Hamburg and isolated attacks occurred on Thursday in Berlin, where the head of the city's police department was forced to flee an angry crowd of left-wing demonstrators.

In Hamburg, an estimated 1,100 right-wing extremists and 7,000 left-wing radicals clashed, escalating to an unusual level of violence for the city. "These were the biggest riots the city has seen in a long time," Ralf Meyer, a spokesman for the Hamburg police, told SPIEGEL ONLINE.

In the city, rioters burned trash cans, cars, lit firecrackers, set off smoke bombs and volleyed a hail of stones. In one incident, a pile of tires was burned just 20 meters (65.6 feet) away from a gas station. Around 2,500 police were deployed in the city, and officers attempted to disperse the crowds by firing water cannons.

Neo-Nazi groups in Germany often hold rallies during the May 1 holiday that frequently end in massive clashes between neo-Nazis and anti-fascist, left-wing groups. The day is traditionally one for workers' unity rallies across Europe, but in Germany it often boils down to confrontations between extreme-right and far-left protesters. Hamburg Sees Worst Rioting in Years >>> | May 2, 2008

The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Taschenbuch)
The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Gebundene Ausgabe)