People filled the streets of cities around the world yesterday, marching on May Day, or International Labor Day. Groups supporting a wide variety of causes—mostly centered on improving worker’s rights—staged largely peaceful demonstrations, however, some groups were met with force, and others fought with police. Below are just some of the scenes from May Day 2017 in Moscow, Chicago, Paris, Manila, New York, San Salvador, St. Petersburg, Havana, Los Angeles, Istanbul, Bangalore, Seattle, Athens, Jakarta, Buenos Aires, and more.
May Day Marches and Protests Around the World
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French CRS anti-riot police officers are engulfed in flames as they face protesters during a march for the annual May Day workers' rally in Paris on May 1, 2017. The march was disrupted as scores of hooded youths threw firebombs at riot police in full gear, who responded with tear gas and truncheons. #
Zakaria Abdelkafi / AFP / Getty -
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Kept behind police tape, supporters and opponents of US President Donald Trump were separated by a line of police as May Day marchers converged on downtown Los Angeles, California, on May 1, 2017. #
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Workers try to remove razor wire which prevents them from marching towards the presidential palace as riot police take defensive positions during a May Day rally in Jakarta, Indonesia, on May 1, 2017. Thousands of workers attended the rally urging the government to raise minimum wages, ban outsourcing practices, provide free health care and improve working condition for workers in the country. #
Dita Alangkara / AP -
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(2 of 2) Security officers carry away a man who ran waving a U.S. flag moments before the start of the May Day march in Havana, Cuba, on May 1, 2017. Monday's protest was a surprising breach of security at a government-organized event where agents line the route. #
Ramon Espinosa / AP -
Protesters wearing red helmets chant slogans as they take part in rally outside the Greek parliament ,in Athens, Greece, on May 1, 2017. Several thousand protesters gathered outside Greece's parliament as May Day rallies kicked off around the country, and unions braced for more austerity measures imposed by bailout lenders. #
Thanassis Stavrakis / AP -
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Protesters clash with riot police as they attempt to force their way closer to the U.S. Embassy to mark the global celebration of May Day in Manila, Philippines on May 1, 2017. #
Bullit Marquez / AP -
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People walk along the Las Vegas Strip during a May Day march on May 1, 2017. Union members and activists marched along and near the Las Vegas Strip to highlight immigration issues and push back against Trump administration policies. #
John Locher / AP -
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More than 2,000 members and supporters of the Lebanese Communist party wave Lebanese flags with Communist symbols, during a demonstration to mark International Labor Day or May Day, in Beirut, Lebanon, on May 1, 2017. #
Bilal Hussein / AP -
Indian workers and members of various trade unions dressed in red take part in a rally on the occasion of International Workers' Day in Bangalore, India, on May 1, 2017. #
Manjunath Kiran / AFP / Getty -
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People holding flags run by a screen reading "Happy Mayday, labor and solidarity day, wishing for everybody a happy world" as they clash with Turkish police during a protest march towards Taksim Square to defy a ban as part of the the May Day rally, in Istanbul, on May 1, 2017. #
Bulent Kilic / AFP / Getty -
Police arrest a demonstrator during a May Day protest in Istanbul, Turkey, on May 1, 2017. Police in Istanbul detained more than 70 people who tried to march to iconic Taksim Square in defiance of a ban on holding May Day events there. #
Lefteris Pitarakis / AP -
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Demonstrators participate in a May Day march through downtown Chicago, Illinois, on May 1, 2017. May Day, also known as International Worker's Day, originated in Chicago when labor leaders staged a series of rallies and marches in May of 1886 to demand an eight-hour work day. #
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Members of the People's Liberation Front, a Marxist political party, carry a portrait of Russian Communist leader Vladimir Lenin during a parade held to mark May Day in Colombo, Sri Lanka, on May 1, 2017. #
Eranga Jayawardena / AP -
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