translated from Spanish: The world manifests itself on Worker’s Day

Germany
Although with strong security measures for the coronavirus, tens of thousands of people took part in twenty demonstrations in the first of May in Berlin.
Police in the capital deployed about 5,000 officers through the streets and the mid-afternoon situation was “relatively quiet” according to police. The most noteworthy incident was the suspension of the main protest called by the “Querdenker” movement, deniers of the pandemic.
Meanwhile, Berlin’s traditional revolutionary demonstration this time was focused on housing problems, and police expected some 10,000 people to gather. And another 10,000 people have participated in cycling marches.
France
The demonstration in Paris, convened by trade unions and joined by representatives of the “yellow vests” movement, has led to incidents with the police, which made 34 arrests.
The traditional demonstration, which brought together 25,000 people in the capital, according to the organizers, 17,000 according to the government, ended violently when a group of radicals refused to leave The Nation Square.
It was the most tense point of a demonstration that had begun in the Republic Square and which had developed peacefully, except for the destruction of some storefronts.
Turkey
Police arrested more than 200 people and used tear gas to disperse protesters in Istanbul amid total confinement to stop the coronavirus.
Trade union and labour sources increase the number of detainees to around 230. The detainees kept posters in favor of the worker’s struggle and shouted slogans such as “Taksim can’t shut people down” and “Long live our fight for the First of May.”
Italy
Italy today celebrated Workers’ Day among security measures for coronavirus to call for efforts to improve the labour market after the pandemic and with hope for the Recovery Plan.
The three main trade unions, CGIL, CISL and UIL, organized a series of activities under the slogan “Italy is cured with work”. Avoiding large crowds, the leaders of each union came to factories to talk about “reconstruction,” a key word for the future following the loss of 900,000 jobs in the past year.
In Turin (north) numerous people convened by minor trade unions demonstrated and there were some moments of tension with the police.
Russia
Faced with the health situation, authorities in many Russian cities, including Moscow, banned traditional May Day mass celebrations for the second year in a row.
Most trade unions and political parties simply held virtual rallies, although communists became present in central Moscow despite restrictions.
United States
Hundreds of people, mostly immigrants, demanded in Washington from President Joe Biden and the Senate a way to regularize and allow 11 million undocumented people to obtain their citizenship and ratify the contribution of migration to the country’s workforce.
Protesters expressed support for Biden’s immigration reform and other bills to protect “dreamers” and regularize undocumented farmworkers, both already passed in the lower house.
Brazil
The pandemic in Brazil, with more than 14.6 million confirmed cases and 403,000 deaths, did not prevent thousands of protesters from going out on the streets to back up or protest against the government.
Most mobilizations, carried out with concentrations and motorcades, were in favor of the president, Jair Bolsonaro, one of the most skeptical leaders in the face of the severity of the pandemic.
As is traditional every year, albeit in smaller numbers because of restrictions imposed in several regions to avoid containing the advancement of the coronavirus, trade union centres convened different mobilizations to celebrate on 1 May and, by the way, protest against the executive branch.
Venezuela
Workers from different guilds in Venezuela demanded “living” wages and mass vaccination against COVID-19 amid the “humanitarian crisis” and pandemic.
In several states dozens of workers, accompanied by opposition civil and political organizations, concentrated to express their rejection of current working conditions, when in Venezuela the minimum wage is 0.63 cents, according to the official rate.
The workers demonstrated by demanding with banners “their”labor claims” and “vaccines for all,” but also expressed their “rejection of repression” by the government of Nicolás Maduro.
Bolivia
Several thousand workers celebrated this Saturday the First of May with marches in Bolivia’s major cities, and union leaders said they accept this year’s pay increase of 2% per month, negotiated with the government.
The marches had their epicenter in the city of Santa Cruz, eastern Bolivia, headed by President Luis Arce. The workers toured streets and avenues with Bolivian flags and all wore water cover for biosecurity reasons, because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Paraguay
Several Paraguayan trade unions concentrated in Asunción to denounce a historically precarious employment situation and now deepened by the pandemic, with the consequence of job losses in the formal and informal sector, the majority in the country.
The events were starring minority unions, without the presence of large power plants.
Chile
The International Labour Day, which every year calls massive strikes in Chile, was held discreetly this time with a virtual event because of the restrictions that govern weekends in most of the country.
An emergency rent, freezing prices and rising minimum wages were some of the main claims of this Saturday’s most massive meeting, convened by Chile’s Unitary Workers’ Center (CUT), which was broadcast via social media.

Original source in Spanish

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