Protesters across the world are taking to the streets to mark May Day, also known as Labour and International Workers' Day.
In
Greece, the atmosphere at Saturday's demonstrations was tense, with
millions of people facing increased taxes and pay cuts as the
government struggles to overcome its huge debt problem.
Workers
from Greece's two largest trade unions, Adedy and GSEE, marched through
the capital, Athens, while workers belonging to the communist trade
union, Pame, gathered in their thousands in front of the parliament
building.
Riot police fired tear gas as they clashed with dozens of youths, some armed with sticks, near the finance ministry.
Skirmishes
were also reported in other areas of Athens and in the city of northern
city of Thessaloniki, where youths targeted cash machines and store
windows with iron sticks.
Transport disrupted
Transport systems were crippled by strikes, with ferries docked in ports and passenger trains cancelled.
The
port of Piraeus, which connects Athens with the Greek islands, was
closed, with striking workers gathering to protest the government's
planned spending cuts.
"They're trying to pass very reactionary measures," one protester said.
"They're trying to do away with all the rights we have gained through struggles in previous years."
Al
Jazeera's Barnaby Phillips, reporting from Piraeus, said the labour
movement in Greece feels under "direct threat to its livelihood".
The
Greek government is set to announce sweeping spending cuts through 2012
to win support for an international rescue package worth $60bn in loans
this year alone.
"There is no way foreign governments will be
determined to help Greece unless they see determined efforts for the
government to bring spending under control and realistic efforts to
make its economy more productive," our correspondent said.
"Unfortunately many Greeks will pay the price for that process."
Clashes in Germany
In
Germany, police said 13 officers had been injured when they clashed
with 150 demonstrators who threw paving stones and set garbage cans
ablaze in the northern port city of Hamburg.
Several hundred
officers were deployed in the capital, Berlin, as a neo-Nazi march and
a leftist counterdemonstration went under way.
In Turkey, about 100,000 workers gathered at Istanbul's Taksim Square.
This
year is the first time labour unions have been fully allowed to mark
May Day at Taksim Square since more than 30 people died there in the
so-called Taksim Square Massacre.
On May 1, 1977, shooting triggered a stampede in which dozens were killed.
The culprits were never found, contributing to instability which culminated in a military coup in 1980.
"Then
human rights and especially workers rights were crushed for years in
Turkey," Al Jazeera's Anita McNaught, reporting from Taksim Square,
said.
"Over a serious of years, particularly the last three, the
unions have steadily pushed and pushed to be reallowed access to back
to this square.
"They have said there is no good reason not to allow them back and this year, the government agreed."
Police have deployed more than 22,000 officers for the rally and demonstrators were being searched before entering the square.
Weakened unions
Zafer
Yoruk, a professor of political science at Izmir University, said the
number of workers organised in Turkish unions has fallen dramatically
since the 1970s.
"Regarding unionisation and economic rights, I think we're far behind the 1970s," he told Al Jazeera.
"The rights to strike, for rights, or solidarity strikes, are totally gone."
Thousands
of Cambodian workers marked May Day by marching through the capital to
demand better work conditions and the establishment of a labour court.
Thousands
of workers in the Philippines also took to the streets to reiterate
their call to the government to protect jobs and to safeguard the
interests of workers.
In the South Korean capital, Seoul, about 20,000 people gathered to demand better working conditions for labourers and farmers.
Al Jazeera