2009 May Day protests
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The 2009 May Day protests were a series of international protests that took place across Europe, Asia and in the other parts of the world due to the financial crisis of 2007–2008 and the resulting Great Recession. Several May Day marches, which are traditional events, had turned violent in Germany, Turkey and Venezuela as riot police battled protesters in their respective countries. Banks and shops had been attacked in Turkey. Further marches had taken place in Russia, Ukraine, the Philippines,
Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
and Hong Kong, Cuba, Italy and Spain.


Americas


Canada

Approximately 1,000 radicals and anti-capitalists demonstrated peacefully in front of the
Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ; ) is an institutional investor that manages several public and parapublic pension plans and insurance programs in Quebec. CDPQ was founded in 1965 by an act of the National Assembly, under the go ...
building in Montreal. In 2009, 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.


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.


Asia


Cambodia

Over 1,000 textile and hotel workers marched through
Phnom Penh Phnom Penh (; km, ភ្នំពេញ, ) is the capital and most populous city of Cambodia. It has been the national capital since the French protectorate of Cambodia and has grown to become the nation's primate city and its economic, indus ...
to the location of
Chea Vichea Chea Vichea ( km, ជា វិជ្ជា) was the leader of the Free Trade Union of Workers of the Kingdom of Cambodia (FTUWKC) until his assassination on Chinese New Year, 22 January 2004. Following his death, he was succeeded in his position ...
'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 Kong in protest against job cuts and reduced working hours. Two protests were organised by pro-government and opposition labour unions.


Japan

In
Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
, 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.


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 Seoul, calling for an end to layoffs and wage cuts.


Taiwan

Despite clashes between protesters and police in Taipei, 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%.


Europe


Austria

A large crowd gathered at Vienna's city hall. According to the
Social Democratic Party of Austria The Social Democratic Party of Austria (german: Sozialdemokratische Partei Österreichs , SPÖ), founded and known as the Social Democratic Workers' Party of Austria (german: link=no, Sozialdemokratische Arbeiterpartei Österreichs, SDAPÖ) unti ...
, 100,000 people attended the rally. On the Ringstraße, a march organized by the
KPÖ The Communist Party of Austria (german: Kommunistische Partei Österreichs, KPÖ) is a communist party in Austria. Established in 1918 as the Communist Party of German-Austria (KPDÖ), it is one of the world's oldest communist parties. 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.


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 II. 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 Schaeffler Technologies AG & Co. KG, also known as Schaeffler Group (''Schaeffler-Gruppe'' in German), is a German manufacturer of rolling element bearings for automotive, aerospace and industrial uses. It was founded in 1946 by brothers Dr. ...
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 Berlin. 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.


Iceland

The turnout at the May Day rally in Reykjavík 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'Aquila L'Aquila ( , ) is a city and ''comune'' in central Italy. It is the capital city of both the Abruzzo region and of the Province of L'Aquila. , it has a population of 70,967 inhabitants. Laid out within medieval walls on a hill in the wide valle ...
was the central meeting point of a rally held by union leaders following a deadly earthquake.


Russia

In Moscow, 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.


Spain

In protests organized by UGT and CCOO, some of Spain's largest unions, more than 10 thousand demonstrators collected in the centre of Madrid.


Turkey

At least eight people, including two police, were injured as police in Istanbul 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.


Africa


Kenya

A government official was forced to cut short his speech and abandon the May Day rally as angry workers hurled stones at dignitaries in protest over the government's refusal to deal with difficult living conditions The day Kenya workers' anger boiled over http://www.nation.co.ke/News/-/1056/593070/-/u6683d/-/index.html


See also

*
2012 May Day protests The 2012 May Day protests were a series of international protests that took place worldwide on 1 May 2012 over the then ongoing global economic crisis. History The first May Day protests originated in several countries throughout Europe includi ...


References


External links

{{European sovereign-debt crisis May Day May Day protests