The May Day 2012 Demonstrations

A national holiday for more than 80 countries worldwide, International Workers Day, also known as “May Day,” is a celebration of the global labor movement. Around the turn of the 20th century, the movement saw the establishment of an eight-hour workday and an improvement in workers rights. Around the globe, May Day has traditionally seen organized demonstrations and marches attended by working-class individuals and unions to press for workers’ rights.

This year, the May Day celebrations have a new resonance with the U.S. and global populations, after last year’s highly publicized “Occupy Wall Street” demonstrations sparked similar “occupy” protests around the world. Occupy Wall Street (OWS) stood against wealth disparity, government corruption and expressed general dissatisfaction with today’s economic and financial landscape. Organizers of OWS promised a revival of protests in parallel to the May Day demonstrations, lending added visibility to the events.

The following is a sampling of this year’s May Day events in major countries. Click ahead for scenes.

By Paul Toscano
Posted 1 May 2012

Militants and labor union members gather around a burning the effigy of Philippine President Benigno Aquino Jr. in Manila demanding higher wages and policies that would make it harder to fire workers. Aquino has said he is trying to help labor but has warned that giving too many benefits will make the country less competitive, costing more jobs.

Nationalists gesture as they shout during the May Labor Day rally in Moscow. President-elect Vladimir Putin and outgoing head of state Dmitry Medvedev joined over 100,000 people in a Soviet-style mass march through Moscow to celebrate.

Demonstrators hold a banner reading “A line of tents guards our future – Occupy” during a protest outside a McDonalds restaurant at London Liverpool Street train station in London.

Pakistani workers carry signs as they shout slogans during a May Day rally in Lahore, the country’s second-largest city. Pakistan has a workforce of around 56 million people among a population of 179 million, according to Pakistan's Federal Bureau of Statistics. Every May Day, thousands of workers rally across the country demanding better wages and conditions.

Protesters carry a banner through the streets of Athens. Greek bank lending to households and businesses fell 4 percent in March, compared with a 3.8 percent drop in the previous month, according to the Athens-based Bank of Greece.

Tammy Bick of Hamden, Conn., joins members of Occupy Wall Street in New York’s Bryant Park. Demonstrators have called for May Day strikes around the country to protest economic inequality and political corruption.

Tens of thousands of protesters gather at Istanbul’s Taksim Square during a May Day rally.

Demonstrators join a protest against the economic policies of the Spanish government during May Day in Madrid on May 1. Figures this week showed that Spain has fallen back into a recession.

A demonstrator holds an effigy of France's President Nicolas Sarkozy as she parades with thousands of people in a May Day march in Marseille, southern France. Sarkozy is facing an uphill fight in the May 6 election against Socialist Francois Hollande.

Foreign workers display banners during a May Day rally in Taipei. Some 2,000 local and foreign laborers took part in the event to demand the government help raise their salary and enhance their working environment safety.

Tunisian protesters outside the headquarters of the Union of Tunisian Workers during the May Labor Day rally in Tunis. Tens of thousands of Tunisians marched for national unity on Tuesday, chanting slogans borrowed from the popular uprising that toppled Zine El Abidine Ben Ali over a year ago.