Scenes From May Day Protests and Celebrations Around the World

Ashley Hackett
May 1, 2018
People around the world are taking to the streets today to fight for workers’ rights.
Workers march during a May Day rally in Guatemala City, Guatemala, on May 1st, 2018. Thousands of marching workers demanded the resignation of President Jimmy Morales, who faces allegations of campaign finance corruption.

Each year, people around the world take to the streets on the first of May to celebrate International Workers’ Day, a day dedicated to workers’ rights, trade unions, and labor movements.

In 1889, the International Socialist Conference declared May 1st an international holiday for labor in commemoration of the 1886 Haymarket affair, where police killed at least eight workers at a Chicago labor demonstration. The first of May is a public holiday in 66 countries and is unofficially celebrated in many more.

Though often associated with workers’ rights, May Day also serves as a platform for fringes of the political spectrum to self-advocate—today in Germany, leftists and anarchists march in Berlin and neo-Nazis march in Erfurt.

Protesters clash with police on a street in the Besiktas neighborhood during a May Day demonstration on May 1st, 2018, in Istanbul, Turkey. People demonstrate around the world on May Day to fight for workers' rights.
Protesters clash with police on a street in the Besiktas neighborhood during a May Day demonstration on May 1st, 2018, in Istanbul, Turkey. People demonstrate around the world on May Day to fight for workers’ rights.

(Photo: Chris McGrath/Getty Images)

Activists rally against financial institutions' support of private prisons and immigrant detention centers, as part of a May Day protest near Wall Street on May 1st, 2018, in New York City.
Activists rally against financial institutions’ support of private prisons and immigrant detention centers, as part of a May Day protest near Wall Street on May 1st, 2018, in New York City.

(Photo: Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

Vehicles are burned as thousands of people take to the streets during the May Day demonstrations on May 1st, 2018, in Paris, France.
Vehicles are burned as thousands of people take to the streets during the May Day demonstrations on May 1st, 2018, in Paris, France.

(Photo by Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images)

Protesters attend a left-wing radical and pro-Palestinian demonstration on May 1st, 2018, in Berlin, Germany. May Day is a holiday in Germany traditionally dedicated to labor, with unions and political parties holding gatherings and rallies across the country. May Day also brings out the fringes of the political spectrum, with leftists and anarchists marching in Berlin and neo-Nazis marching in Erfurt.
Protesters attend a left-wing radical and pro-Palestinian demonstration on May 1st, 2018, in Berlin, Germany. May Day is a holiday in Germany traditionally dedicated to labor, with unions and political parties holding gatherings and rallies across the country. May Day also brings out the fringes of the political spectrum, with leftists and anarchists marching in Berlin and neo-Nazis marching in Erfurt.

(Photo: Carsten Koall/Getty Images)

Workers march during a May Day rally in Guatemala City, Guatemala, on May 1st, 2018. Thousands of marching workers demanded the resignation of President Jimmy Morales, who faces allegations of campaign finance corruption.
Workers march during a May Day rally in Guatemala City, Guatemala, on May 1st, 2018. Thousands of marching workers demanded the resignation of President Jimmy Morales, who faces allegations of campaign finance corruption.

(Photo: Johan Ordonez/AFP/Getty Images)

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