CHICAGO (Reuters) - Hundreds of May Day demonstrators took to the streets in U.S. financial centers on Monday protesting political and economic exploitation and demanding amnesty for illegal immigrants.
In New York, where 600 massed at Union Square, police arrested 19 people calling themselves anarchists. In Chicago, where the May Day protest movement was born 114 years ago in pursuit of the eight-hour work day, about 200 people marched through the downtown area in a peaceful protest.
[a4a: I was there. Way more than 200 people were there. I would put it at about 1,500 people, altogether. 200 is about how many Black Bloc people were in that overall total. There were a lot of people there.]
The U.S. protests were part of a worldwide wave of May Day activities that saw marches and scattered violence.
The arrests in New York were made after police said the demonstrators had violated a state law against obscuring one's face during a demonstration. Police at the scene also said the action was prompted by the fact that some of the demonstrators were dressed in garb similar to that worn by activists at tumultuous World Trade Organization demonstrations in Seattle.
They were charged variously with loitering and resisting arrest.
In flyers handed out on the scene, the anarchists said they were protesting against "corporate tyranny" and against the WTO, the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.
In Chicago more than 200 people carrying banners and chanting "People Before Profit" rallied outside the Chicago Board of Trade, several miles from the site of the Haymarket Square massacre, a landmark in 19th century May Day-related history.
[a4a: See, the hack first says "about 200", and then "more than 200" -- the guy doesn't have a clue. Maybe he can only count that high?]
The group's signs referred to the exchange, the world's oldest futures exchange, as the "Chicago Board of Traitors." They then began a march through the downtown area that was to last much of the day.
In New York, many of the demonstrators were chanting "Amnesty Now!" in Spanish to demand immigration amnesty for illegal aliens so they can receive benefits such as Social Security, passports and health care.
"There is a double standard in U.S. immigration law. The government knows undocumented people are working and paying taxes, but when it comes time to get any benefits, such as collecting Social Security or tax returns, the government says no, you're illegal," said Edison Severino, business agent for local 78 of the Laborers International Union of North America, which represents 2,400 hazardous waste laborers in New York.
March organizers said they expected a few thousand protesters in total to a march from Union Square to City Hall.
There was a strong police presence lining the route and in the Wall Street financial district, which protest organizers also said could be a target of the day's demonstrations. Traffic slowed and police in riot gear directed traffic.
The New York Stock Exchange said it was open for business as usual, but would remain in close touch with police and take appropriate action if there was any change in the situation.
The Chicago May Day Coalition said it planned "a series of actions to oppose economic and political exploitation and repression, and celebrate May Day's spirit of resistance," a statement from the group said.
A spokesman for the Chicago Board of Trade said the exchange was "working closely with the Chicago police department for an orderly demonstration."
[a4a: It looked like a bunker -- they had gates and cops everywhere.]
As a precaution, the exchange said it was closing its visitors gallery, which overlooks the trading floors. The Chicago Mercantile Exchange also closed its gallery, while the New York Stock Exchange said its visitors gallery would remain open.
Protesters in Chicago said they would march along the original route of a landmark May Day demonstration in the late 1880s.
In the 1886 Haymarket labor protest, a bomb was thrown that killed eight policemen and wounded about 65 others. Four protesters were convicted of the killings and executed the following year.
[a4a: Actually, the bomb didn't kill those eight cops -- most of the cops were killed by friendly fire. Check out the history of it yourself, especially the work of Paul Avrich.]
LONDON (Reuters) - May Day saw demonstrations and scattered violence around the world and crowds protested against the government in strife-torn Zimbabwe, despite unions' warnings to workers to stay off the streets.
Some 3,000 massed outside Harare to hear Zimbabwe's main opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), urge them to work to defeat President Robert Mugabe's ruling ZANU-PF party in elections expected later in May.
"Workers have nothing to show for 20 years of independence and Mugabe cannot possibly change that in another year or two," MDC President Morgan Tsvangirai said.
The Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions, also critical of Mugabe, earlier urged workers to stay at home, "think deeply, and pray for peace."
It was the first time May Day rallies had been cancelled since Zimbabwe won independence from Britain in 1980.
Fourteen people have been killed in occupations of white-owned farms by pro-government groups and political violence in recent weeks.
The partly state-owned Herald newspaper accused unions of playing politics instead of looking after workers' interests.
Hundreds of Serb workers gathered in central Belgrade to call for Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic to go.
"On this traditional workers' day it is the moment to awaken and say a decisive 'no' to the regime of Slobodan Milosevic," said Branislav Canak, the president of the non-government United Trade Union Nezavisnost (Independence).
Sixteen police and 25 protesters were injured in May Day violence in Germany. Neo-Nazis fought anti-fascist protesters in Berlin and in Hamburg leftist protesters threw stones at banks, broke shop windows and set fire to cars after midnight.
In the Polish city of Krakow, several were hurt and 14 young anarchists detained after clashing with police when they marched on a jail where one of their comrades was held. In Gdansk, skinheads threw eggs full of red paint at leftist marchers. In Warsaw, leftists hurled eggs at anti-communist hecklers.
Sporadic violence flared in London as protesters sacked a McDonald's restaurant and threw bottles toward Prime Minister Tony Blair's residence. Earlier, protesters planted flowers and seeds in "guerrilla gardening" to add more green to the capital.
"We were all free and happy then," pensioner Dina Gulicheva said of the Soviet era. "These democrats have taken everything away from me."
Some 7,000 mostly elderly Bulgarians, many of them supporters of the largely ex-communist Socialist Party, rallied in Sofia to protest against poverty and what they called the corruption of the center-right government.
Tens of thousands of Turks took to the streets for protests largely directed against the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
Turkey late last year won a three-year $4 billion loan from the IMF to support an economic reform and anti-inflation program. One of its conditions is rapid privatization.
"IMF: This nation is not for sale," ran one huge red and yellow banner carried in Istanbul.
Thousands demonstrated peacefully in Indonesia, some against economic policies imposed by the IMF.
In the Sumatran city of Medan, 10,000 gathered peacefully. But across the city, police opened fire on students, killing two and injuring more than 20, during an operation to free five colleagues taken hostage in violence unrelated to May Day.
Tens of thousands of protesters marched in Morocco demanding government action to create jobs and better working conditions.
A few dozen people chanted "people before profit" outside the Chicago Board of Trade and in New York there was a heavy police presence in anticipation of a noon May Day protest.
Pope John Paul, in a May Day mass, said: "Globalization of finance, of the economy, of commerce and of work should never be allowed to violate the dignity and centrality of the human person or the democracy of peoples." He urged rich countries to cut Third World debt.
In Slovakia, hundreds of supporters of former Prime Minister Vladimir Meciar protested against criminal investigations launched against him as well as high unemployment.
About 500 Lebanese workers marched through the streets of Beirut, demanding better pay, job security and priority for Lebanese over foreign workers, amid economic recession.
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