Balcony banners, e-rallies as pandemic curbs May Day demos

Workers of the world scaled back their traditional May Day demos Friday with coronavirus lockdowns forcing many to rally online while a determined few hit the streets in face masks.

There were arrests in the Philippines, Russia and Turkey, a riot in Indonesia and pepper spray in Hong Kong as some broke confinement rules to hold public assemblies.

Most gatherings on this unusual Labour Day, however, were small and without incident.

The traditional festival of the workers’ movement attracts millions of people annually to loud and boisterous marches, and occasional violent confrontations with police.

But with strict social distancing rules in most countries to halt the spread of the virus, many union leaders opted to delay gatherings or move events online faced with the COVID-19 outbreak that has killed more than 233,000 people worldwide.

May Day carries extra significance this year after the epidemic sent the global economy into a tailspin, put unprecedented numbers of people out of work, and cast some of the world’s lower paid workers — nurses, garbage collectors, shop tellers and delivery drivers — in the role of modern-day heroes.

“It is thanks to the labour we celebrate on this day that the nation perseveres,” said President Emmanuel Macron of France, where workers will celebrate the popular holiday by banging pots, singing, and displaying banners from their balconies and taking part in online demonstrations.

Macron thanked caregivers, police, farmers, civil servants and other workers who have made it possible for “life to continue in spite of everything.”

– Covered mouths have a voice –

In Turkey, some two dozen mask-wearing protesters including a senior union leader were arrested for taking part in a small march in Istanbul in violation of lockdown measures, an AFP photographer witnessed.

Hundreds of Greek workers rallied outside parliament, wearing red scarves over their faces or masks bearing messages of solidarity with health workers.

“Covered mouths still have a voice,” read some.

In the Philippines, police detained at least three people as small groups of protesters banged on empty pots and held up placards demanding government aid and safe working conditions, in defiance of a ban on public gatherings.

Some 23 million people — nearly a quarter of the country’s population — faced hunger due to “no work, no pay” provisions in their employment contracts, Jerome Adonis of the May First Movement labour movement told AFP.

A riot broke out in Indonesia’s North Maluku province when employees of a nickel processing plant were barred from entering the compound to stage a protest demanding better working conditions, according to an AFP journalist at the scene.

The company’s canteen building was set on fire as hundreds of workers clashed with security guards.

– ‘We’ve had to get creative’ –

In Finland, traditional communal picnics were replaced by restaurants offering livestreams of wine tastings or cocktail-making lessons, and serving up traditional May Day food for home delivery.

“We’ve had to get creative and try and find new ways that we can still interact and create togetherness,” Helsinki restaurateur Filippo Phoumsavanh told AFP.

Italians too will May Day in unsusual fashion. The traditional concert on Rome’s San Giovanni Square will be replaced by a virtual performance broadcast live on public television for four hours until midnight.

Artists, including big names such as Gianna Nannini, Zucchero, Sting and Patti Smith, will perform from different concert halls around the country.

In Hong Kong, meanwhile, riot police deployed with rubber bullets and tear gas after democracy activists threatened to defy a ban on gatherings to hold pro-democracy protests.

The streets remained largely empty, but hundreds did gather in a shopping mall in the town of Shatin, chanting slogans and waving protest flags.

Riot police used pepper spray to disperse them.

Police also deployed in large numbers in Germany to enforce a prohibition on gatherings of more than 20 people.

Zaragoza in northern Spain was the scene of an unusual rally — May Day demonstrators formed up in a long line of cars, each with a single occupant sporting gloves and a mask.

In Vienna, a few hundred people standing one metre (3.3 feet) apart gathered at the chancellory to demand an end to the coronavirus lockdown, bearing signs reading: “We don’t want dictatorship.”

Three far-right activists were arrested on a bridge near the Kremlin in Moscow where they tried to mount a protest, according to the Left Front movement, critical of President Vladimir Putin.

Several hundred people gathered on Martyrs’ Square in Beirut, Lebanon, where economic hardship has fuelled public anger at the government.

“I came because I am hungry, I am tired of this life,” said Mohamed Ali, 25, who lost his job and said he has not a cent to his name.