2009 May Day protests
Encyclopedia
The 2009 May Day protests are a series of international protests that have taken place across Europe
, Asia
and in the other parts of the world over the current global economic crisis. Several May Day
marches, which are traditional events, have turned violent in Germany
, Turkey
and Venezuela
as riot police battled protesters in their respective countries. Banks and shops have been attacked in Turkey.
Further marches have taken place in Russia
, Ukraine
, the Philippines
, Japan
and Hong Kong
, Cuba
, Italy
and Spain
.
building in Montreal
. This year, the Service de police de la Ville de Montréal
didn't intervene with riot police to disperse violently the demonstration like it did in 2008.
to the location of Chea Vichea
's 2004 assassination. Vichea led Cambodia's biggest labour union before he was killed in January that year.
in protest against job cuts and reduced working hours. Two protests were organised by pro-government and opposition labour unions.
, approximately 36,000 people demonstrated about social welfare
benefits in Tokyo
's Yoyogi Park
. Some people also protested high military
spending, about US$48.8 billion in 2008.
, calling for an end to layoffs and wage cuts.
, no arrests were reported. In one of the largest May Day protests there in recent times, 10,000 people marched against record high levels of unemployment nearing 6%.
's city hall. According to the Social Democratic Party of Austria
, 100,000 people attended the rally. On the Ringstraße
, a march organized by the KPÖ
(the Communist Party of Austria) took place. Some three to five hundred people showed up. The final rally was held in front of the parliament. There were also other minor marches in Vienna.
At a march in Linz
, also organized by the KPÖ, police and protesters clashed. On both sides, people were injured. Five people were arrested.
. Several tens of thousands of people marched in three hundred protests through cities such as Bordeaux
, Grenoble
, Marseille
and Paris
. One of Grenoble's Schaeffler worker banners said, "Work, not death". Fishermen, hospital and university staff engaged in strike action.
. Forty-nine demonstrators were arrested after several incidents involving bottle-throwing, rock-throwing, and setting fires. Between Berlin and Hamburg
, over fifty riot police were injured.
was double the number seen the many last years. Activists from the January uprising, along with anarchists brandishing anarcho-communist flags, booed at Gylfi Arnbjörnsson, the leader of the main trade union in Iceland, as he suggested in his speech that Iceland enter the EU.
was the central meeting point of a rally held by union leaders following a deadly earthquake
.
, approximately 2,000 Communists gathered at a statue of Karl Marx
. Police arrested around one hundred members of far right and anti-immigrant demonstrators counter-protesting in Saint Petersburg
.
.
attempted to disperse hundreds of demonstrators with tear gas and water cannons. Several hundred protesters dispersed authorities with rocks in the Şişli
central district. The demonstrators chanted slogans such as "hand in hand against fascism", "repression won't stop us" and "long live the revolution and socialism". The Turkish government bowed to trade union pressure and declared May Day a public holiday.
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
, Asia
Asia
Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...
and in the other parts of the world over the current global economic crisis. Several May Day
May Day
May Day on May 1 is an ancient northern hemisphere spring festival and usually a public holiday; it is also a traditional spring holiday in many cultures....
marches, which are traditional events, have turned violent in Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
and Venezuela
Venezuela
Venezuela , officially called the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela , is a tropical country on the northern coast of South America. It borders Colombia to the west, Guyana to the east, and Brazil to the south...
as riot police battled protesters in their respective countries. Banks and shops have been attacked in Turkey.
Further marches have taken place in Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
, Ukraine
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
, the Philippines
Philippines
The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
, Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
and Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...
, Cuba
Cuba
The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
, Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
and Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
.
Canada
About a thousand radicals and anti-capitalists demonstrated peacefully in front of the Caisse de dépôt et placement du QuébecCaisse de dépôt et placement du Québec
The Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec manages public pension plans in the Canadian province of Quebec. It was founded in 1965 by an act of the National Assembly...
building in Montreal
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
. This year, the Service de police de la Ville de Montréal
Service de police de la Ville de Montréal
The Service de police de la Ville de Montréal is the police force for the city of Montreal, Quebec, Canada. With about 4,400 officers and 1,600 civilian staff, it is the second largest municipal police agency in Canada after the Toronto Police Service and second largest in the province behind the...
didn't intervene with riot police to disperse violently the demonstration like it did in 2008.
United States
In San Francisco, more than 50 people rioted through Union Square and the financial district, attacking upper-class storefronts.Venezuela
Parallel marches consisting pro- and anti-government unions and organizations took place around the country. An opposition protest of a few thousand in the capital was dispersed with tear gas, rubber bullets and water cannons, after organizers expressed their intentions to pass through the barricades, set up several blocks away from the National Assembly -the opposition's intended destination- to deliver a document denouncing supposed actions against labor unions by the Chávez government. Once dispersed, marchers damaged a Pdval food distribution point.Cambodia
Over 1,000 textile and hotel workers marched through Phnom PenhPhnom Penh
Phnom Penh is the capital and largest city of Cambodia. Located on the banks of the Mekong River, Phnom Penh has been the national capital since the French colonized Cambodia, and has grown to become the nation's center of economic and industrial activities, as well as the center of security,...
to the location of Chea Vichea
Chea Vichea
Chea Vichea was the leader of the Free Trade Union of Workers of the Kingdom of Cambodia until his assassination on Chinese New Year, 22 January 2004...
's 2004 assassination. Vichea led Cambodia's biggest labour union before he was killed in January that year.
Hong Kong
Several hundred workers marched peacefully through Hong KongHong Kong
Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...
in protest against job cuts and reduced working hours. Two protests were organised by pro-government and opposition labour unions.
Japan
In JapanJapan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
, approximately 36,000 people demonstrated about social welfare
Social welfare in Japan
Social welfare, assistance for the ill or otherwise disabled and for the old, has long been provided in Japan by both the government and private companies. Beginning in the 1920s, the government enacted a series of welfare programs, based mainly on European models, to provide medical care and...
benefits in Tokyo
Tokyo
, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...
's Yoyogi Park
Yoyogi Park
is one of the largest parks in Tokyo, Japan located adjacent to Harajuku Station and Meiji Shrine in Shibuya.What is now Yoyogi Park was the site of the first successful powered aircraft flight in Japan, on December 19, 1910, by Captain Yoshitoshi Tokugawa, after which it became an army parade ground...
. Some people also protested high military
Japan Self-Defense Forces
The , or JSDF, occasionally referred to as JSF or SDF, are the unified military forces of Japan that were established after the end of the post–World War II Allied occupation of Japan. For most of the post-war period the JSDF was confined to the islands of Japan and not permitted to be deployed...
spending, about US$48.8 billion in 2008.
Macao
Protesters (500 according to organizers, 400 according to police) marched to the Government House on issues such as illegal workers and public housing. With the election of the Chief Executive approaching, some protesters raised the banner "Against Businessmen Ruling Macao".South Korea
8,000 workers and students participated in a rally in a park in SeoulSeoul
Seoul , officially the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea. A megacity with a population of over 10 million, it is the largest city proper in the OECD developed world...
, calling for an end to layoffs and wage cuts.
Taiwan
Despite clashes between protesters and police in TaipeiTaipei
Taipei City is the capital of the Republic of China and the central city of the largest metropolitan area of Taiwan. Situated at the northern tip of the island, Taipei is located on the Tamsui River, and is about 25 km southwest of Keelung, its port on the Pacific Ocean...
, no arrests were reported. In one of the largest May Day protests there in recent times, 10,000 people marched against record high levels of unemployment nearing 6%.
Austria
A large crowd gathered at ViennaVienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
's city hall. According to the Social Democratic Party of Austria
Social Democratic Party of Austria
The Social Democratic Party of Austria is one of the oldest political parties in Austria. The SPÖ is one of the two major parties in Austria, and has ties to trade unions and the Austrian Chamber of Labour. The SPÖ is among the few mainstream European social-democratic parties that have preserved...
, 100,000 people attended the rally. On the Ringstraße
Ringstraße
The Ringstraße is a circular road surrounding the Innere Stadt district of Vienna, Austria and is one of its main sights...
, a march organized by the KPÖ
KPO
Meanings of KPO:* Knowledge process outsourcing.* KPÖ , Communist Party of Austria.* Kommunistische Partei Deutschlands , Communist Party Opposition....
(the Communist Party of Austria) took place. Some three to five hundred people showed up. The final rally was held in front of the parliament. There were also other minor marches in Vienna.
At a march in Linz
Linz
Linz is the third-largest city of Austria and capital of the state of Upper Austria . It is located in the north centre of Austria, approximately south of the Czech border, on both sides of the river Danube. The population of the city is , and that of the Greater Linz conurbation is about...
, also organized by the KPÖ, police and protesters clashed. On both sides, people were injured. Five people were arrested.
France
France's eight major trade unions decided to unite in their May Day rallies for the first time since the end of World War IIWorld War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. Several tens of thousands of people marched in three hundred protests through cities such as Bordeaux
Bordeaux
Bordeaux is a port city on the Garonne River in the Gironde department in southwestern France.The Bordeaux-Arcachon-Libourne metropolitan area, has a population of 1,010,000 and constitutes the sixth-largest urban area in France. It is the capital of the Aquitaine region, as well as the prefecture...
, Grenoble
Grenoble
Grenoble is a city in southeastern France, at the foot of the French Alps where the river Drac joins the Isère. Located in the Rhône-Alpes region, Grenoble is the capital of the department of Isère...
, Marseille
Marseille
Marseille , known in antiquity as Massalia , is the second largest city in France, after Paris, with a population of 852,395 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Marseille extends beyond the city limits with a population of over 1,420,000 on an area of...
and Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
. One of Grenoble's Schaeffler worker banners said, "Work, not death". Fishermen, hospital and university staff engaged in strike action.
Germany
Violence was expected among far right and far left demonstrators and police. German police arrested twelve people after twenty-nine police were injured by two hundred protesters shouting anti-capitalist slogans in BerlinBerlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
. Forty-nine demonstrators were arrested after several incidents involving bottle-throwing, rock-throwing, and setting fires. Between Berlin and Hamburg
Hamburg
-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...
, over fifty riot police were injured.
Iceland
The turnout at the May Day rally in ReykjavíkReykjavík
Reykjavík is the capital and largest city in Iceland.Its latitude at 64°08' N makes it the world's northernmost capital of a sovereign state. It is located in southwestern Iceland, on the southern shore of Faxaflói Bay...
was double the number seen the many last years. Activists from the January uprising, along with anarchists brandishing anarcho-communist flags, booed at Gylfi Arnbjörnsson, the leader of the main trade union in Iceland, as he suggested in his speech that Iceland enter the EU.
Italy
L'AquilaL'Aquila
L'Aquila is a city and comune in central Italy, both the capital city of the Abruzzo region and of the Province of L'Aquila. , it has a population of 73,150 inhabitants, but has a daily presence in the territory of 100,000 people for study, tertiary activities, jobs and tourism...
was the central meeting point of a rally held by union leaders following a deadly earthquake
2009 L'Aquila earthquake
The 2009 L'Aquila earthquake occurred in the region of Abruzzo, in central Italy. The main shock occurred at 3:32 local time on 6 April 2009, and was rated 5.8 on the Richter scale and 6.3 on the moment magnitude scale; its epicentre was near L'Aquila, the capital of Abruzzo, which together...
.
Russia
In MoscowMoscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
, approximately 2,000 Communists gathered at a statue of Karl Marx
Karl Marx
Karl Heinrich Marx was a German philosopher, economist, sociologist, historian, journalist, and revolutionary socialist. His ideas played a significant role in the development of social science and the socialist political movement...
. Police arrested around one hundred members of far right and anti-immigrant demonstrators counter-protesting in Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg is a city and a federal subject of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea...
.
Spain
In protests organized by UGT and CCOO, some of Spain's largest unions, more than 10 thousand demonstrators collected in the centre of MadridMadrid
Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan...
.
Turkey
At least eight people, including two police, were injured as police in IstanbulIstanbul
Istanbul , historically known as Byzantium and Constantinople , is the largest city of Turkey. Istanbul metropolitan province had 13.26 million people living in it as of December, 2010, which is 18% of Turkey's population and the 3rd largest metropolitan area in Europe after London and...
attempted to disperse hundreds of demonstrators with tear gas and water cannons. Several hundred protesters dispersed authorities with rocks in the Şişli
Sisli
Şişli is one of 39 districts of Istanbul, Turkey. Located on the European side of the city, it is bordered by Beşiktaş to the east, Sarıyer to the north, Eyüp and Kağıthane to the west, and Beyoğlu to the south...
central district. The demonstrators chanted slogans such as "hand in hand against fascism", "repression won't stop us" and "long live the revolution and socialism". The Turkish government bowed to trade union pressure and declared May Day a public holiday.