2009 May Day protests

Series of international protests The 2009 May Day protests were a series of international protests that took place across Europe, Asia and in the other parts of the world due to the 2008 financial crisis and the resulting Great Recession. Several May Day marches, which are traditional events, had turned violent in Germany, Turkey and Venezuela as riot police battled protesters in their respective countries. Banks and shops had been attacked in Turkey. Further marches had taken place in Russia, Ukraine, the Philippines, Japan and Hong Kong, Cuba, Italy and Spain. Americas Canada Approximately 1,000 radicals and anti-capitalists demonstrated peacefully in front of the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec building in Montreal.http://lcn.canoe.com/lcn/infos/regional/archives/2009/05/20090501-230504.html Des militants protestent à Montréal (in French) 2009-05-01 2009-05-04 LCNApril 2026 medicmedichttps://www.ledevoir.com/2009/05/02/248587.html La Fête des travailleurs – Un 1er mai sur fond de crise (in French) 2009-05-02 Le Devoir https://web.archive.org/web/20090505083720/http://www.ledevoir.com/2009/05/02/248587.html 2009-05-05 live 2009-05-04 In 2009, the Service de police de la Ville de Montréal didn't intervene with riot police to disperse violently the demonstration like it did in 2008.http://www.cmaq.net/node/29995 La Police met fin brutalement à une manifestation du 1er mai! (in French) 2008-05-07 2009-05-04 CMAQ (Indymedia Montreal)http://www.cmaq.net/node/29951 Montréal: la police attaque la manifestation anticapitaliste du 1er mai (in French) 2008-05-02 2009-05-04 CMAQ (Indymedia Montreal)http://cybersolidaires.typepad.com/ameriques/2008/05/montral-la-poli.html Montréal: Sauvage répression de la manifestation anticapitaliste et pacifique du 1er mai (in French) 2008-05-02 2009-05-04 Cybersolidaires 2008-06-15 https://web.archive.org/web/20080615130633/http://cybersolidaires.typepad.com/ameriques/2008/05/montral-la-poli.html dead United States In San Francisco, more than 50 people rioted through Union Square and the financial district, attacking upper-class storefronts.http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2009/05/01/18592281.php Riot Hits San Francisco On May Day! 2009-05-01 2009-05-02 IndyBay.orghttps://abc7news.com/archive/6792278/ Anti-Capitalism Protesters smash windows near Union Square 2009-05-01 2009-05-02 ABC 7, KGO-TV San Francisco, CA https://web.archive.org/web/20090505041133/http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?id=6792278 2009-05-05 live Venezuela Parallel marches consisting pro- and anti-government unions and organizations took place around the country. An opposition protest of a few thousand in the capital was dispersed with tear gas, rubber bullets and water cannons, after organizers expressed their intentions to pass through the barricades, set up several blocks away from the National Assembly -the opposition's intended destination- to deliver a document denouncing supposed actions against labor unions by the Chávez government. Once dispersed, marchers damaged a Pdval food distribution point.» Brutal represión contra una marcha repleta de mujeres y ancianos en Noticias24.com http://www.noticias24.com/actualidad/noticia/43101/contingente-policial-arremete-contra-la-marcha-opositora-en-parque-carabobo/ https://web.archive.org/web/20090722234507/http://www.noticias24.com/actualidad/noticia/43101/contingente-policial-arremete-contra-la-marcha-opositora-en-parque-carabobo/ 2009-07-22 dead 2009-05-04 https://www.reuters.com/article/bondsNews/idUSN0134783320090501 Venezuela police break up opposition march 2009-05-09 2009-05-01 Reuters Fabian Cambero https://web.archive.org/web/20090505144835/https://www.reuters.com/article/bondsNews/idUSN0134783320090501 5 May 2009 live Asia Cambodia Over 1,000 textile and hotel workers marched through Phnom Penh to the location of Chea Vichea's 2004 assassination. Vichea led Cambodia's biggest labour union before he was killed in January that year.http://www.straitstimes.com/Breaking%2BNews/SE%2BAsia/Story/STIStory_371125.html 1,000 Cambodians rally 2009-05-01 2009-05-01 The Straits Times https://web.archive.org/web/20090505082012/http://www.straitstimes.com/Breaking%2BNews/SE%2BAsia/Story/STIStory_371125.html 5 May 2009 dead Hong Kong Several hundred workers marched peacefully through Hong Kong in protest against job cuts and reduced working hours. Two protests were organised by pro-government and opposition labour unions.http://www.straitstimes.com/Breaking%2BNews/Asia/Story/STIStory_371133.html May Day protests in HK 2009-05-01 2009-05-01 The Straits Times https://web.archive.org/web/20090505170844/http://www.straitstimes.com/Breaking%2BNews/Asia/Story/STIStory_371133.html 5 May 2009 dead Japan In Japan, approximately 36,000 people demonstrated about social welfare benefits in Tokyo's Yoyogi Park.http://www.hurriyet.com.tr/english/world/11559789.asp?scr=1 Global protests, riots mark May Day 2009-05-03 Hurriyet Daily News 2009-05-03 Some people also protested high military spending, about US$48.8 billion in 2008.Asia Times Macao Protesters (500 according to organizers, 400 according to police) marched to the Government House on issues such as illegal workers and public housing. With the election of the Chief Executive approaching, some protesters raised the banner "Against Businessmen Ruling Macao".http://www.macaodaily.com/html/2009-05/02/content_313210.htm Several Organizations Hold Protest Police Keeps Order 2009-05-02 2009-05-02 Macao Daily News https://web.archive.org/web/20090505155236/http://www.macaodaily.com/html/2009-05/02/content_313210.htm May 5, 2009 dead South Korea 8,000 workers and students participated in a rally in a park in Seoul, calling for an end to layoffs and wage cuts.I think someone intended to use a different citation -- this one links to an article mostly about Germany and does not mention Korea (or Seoul) at all. June 2014 Taiwan Despite clashes between protesters and police in Taipei, no arrests were reported. In one of the largest May Day protests there in recent times, 10,000 people marched against record high levels of unemployment nearing 6%.http://www.chinapost.com.tw/taiwan/t-business/2009/05/02/206462/Thousands-of.htm Thousands of workers march to support labor rights in Taipei 2009-05-02 2009-05-02 The China Post https://web.archive.org/web/20090503044816/http://www.chinapost.com.tw/taiwan/t-business/2009/05/02/206462/Thousands-of.htm 3 May 2009 dead Europe Austria A large crowd gathered at Vienna's city hall. According to the Social Democratic Party of Austria, 100,000 people attended the rally. On the Ringstraße, a march organized by the KPÖ (the Communist Party of Austria) took place. Some three to five hundred people showed up. The final rally was held in front of the parliament. There were also other minor marches in Vienna. At a march in Linz, also organized by the KPÖ, police and protesters clashed. On both sides, people were injured. Five people were arrested.May 2009 France France's eight major trade unions decided to unite in their May Day rallies for the first time since the end of World War II.http://www.straitstimes.com/Breaking%2BNews/World/Story/BgSty_371183_1.html May Day rallies around the world 2009-05-01 2009-05-01 The Straits Times https://web.archive.org/web/20090505170940/http://www.straitstimes.com/Breaking%2BNews/World/Story/BgSty_371183_1.html 5 May 2009 dead Several tens of thousands of people marched in three hundred protests through cities such as Bordeaux, Grenoble, Marseille and Paris. One of Grenoble's Schaeffler worker banners said, "Work, not death". Fishermen, hospital and university staff engaged in strike action. Germany thumb|The German Federal Ministry of Finance in Berlin was pelted with paint bombs. Violence was expected among far right and far left demonstrators and police.https://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20090430.wmayday0430/BNStory/International/home Berlin braces for possible May Day violence 2009-04-30 2009-05-01 The Globe and Mail https://web.archive.org/web/20090504142320/http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20090430.wmayday0430/BNStory/International/home 4 May 2009 live German police arrested twelve people after twenty-nine police were injured by two hundred protesters shouting anti-capitalist slogans in Berlin.http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8028237.stm Police battle May Day protesters 2009-05-01 2009-05-01 BBC https://web.archive.org/web/20090502215837/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8028237.stm 2 May 2009 live Forty-nine demonstrators were arrested after several incidents involving bottle-throwing, rock-throwing, and setting fires.http://www.straitstimes.com/Breaking%2BNews/World/Story/STIStory_371183.html Worldwide May Day rallies 2009-05-01 2009-05-01 The Straits Times https://web.archive.org/web/20090505171037/http://www.straitstimes.com/Breaking%2BNews/World/Story/STIStory_371183.html 5 May 2009 dead Between Berlin and Hamburg, over fifty riot police were injured. Iceland The turnout at the May Day rally in Reykjavík was double the number seen the many last years. Activists from the January uprising, along with anarchists brandishing anarcho-communist flags, booed at Gylfi Arnbjörnsson, the leader of the main trade union in Iceland, as he suggested in his speech that Iceland enter the EU. Italy L'Aquila was the central meeting point of a rally held by union leaders following a deadly earthquake. Russia In Moscow, approximately 2,000 Communists gathered at a statue of Karl Marx. Police arrested around one hundred members of far right and anti-immigrant demonstrators counter-protesting in Saint Petersburg. Spain thumb|Demonstrators in Málaga, Spain In protests organized by UGT and CCOO, some of Spain's largest unions, more than 10 thousand demonstrators collected in the centre of Madrid.http://www.easybourse.com/bourse-actualite/marches/tens-of-thousands-protest-in-spain-in-may-day-demos-660938 Tens Of Thousands Protest In Spain In May Day Demos 2009-05-01 Easy Bourse 2009-05-03 https://web.archive.org/web/20090505085448/http://www.easybourse.com/bourse-actualite/marches/tens-of-thousands-protest-in-spain-in-may-day-demos-660938 2009-05-05 dead Turkey At least eight people, including two police, were injured as police in Istanbul attempted to disperse hundreds of demonstrators with tear gas and water cannons. Several hundred protesters dispersed authorities with rocks in the Şişli central district.http://www.rte.ie/news/2009/0501/mayday.html Financial crisis fuels May Day protests 2009-05-01 2009-05-01 RTÉ https://web.archive.org/web/20090503015357/http://www.rte.ie/news/2009/0501/mayday.html 3 May 2009 live The demonstrators chanted slogans such as "hand in hand against fascism", "repression won't stop us" and "long live the revolution and socialism". The Turkish government bowed to trade union pressure and declared May Day a public holiday.http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2009/0501/breaking2.htm May Day clashes throughout Europe 2009-05-01 2009-05-01 The Irish Times Africa Kenya A government official was forced to cut short his speech and abandon the May Day rally as angry workers hurled stones at dignitaries in protest over the government's refusal to deal with difficult living conditions The day Kenya workers' anger boiled over http://www.nation.co.ke/News/-/1056/593070/-/u6683d/-/index.html See also 2012 May Day protests References External links Increased turnout, reports of violence at worldwide May Day demonstrations May Day Category:May Day protests Category:May 2009