For Labor Day, Protests from Paris to Phnom Penh

Workers’ rights around the world were in the spotlight on Tuesday as protesters took to the streets from Paris to Phnom Penh, with some governments responding with measures to quell unrest, agencies report.

Berlin has amassed police forces on International Labor Day, when violent protests traditionally erupt in the city, just like in Istanbul, which closed main streets and key thoroughfares.

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Turkey’s largest unions have been unable to hold gatherings in the main city square Taksim since 2014, when anti-government protests over the devastation of Gezi Park shook the nation.

The situation was calmer in Moscow, where about 130,000 people participated in a parade led by Mayor Sergei Sobyanin.

“I will do everything to ensure a better life for ordinary Muscovites and for the city to flourish,” the mayor promised.

Protesters in Taipei demanded better wages and greater rights in a march organized by the TCTU trade union confederation.

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President Tsai Ing-wen promised concrete policies for wage growth and improved working conditions, including greater powers for labor inspectors.

Cambodia and Sri Lanka urged workers to stay home on May 1, first for security reasons, and then due to a Buddhist ceremony taking place at the same time.

Protests on International Labor Day began in the 1880s when workers fought for an eight-hour workday.

The date of May 1 is a reminder of the protests in Chicago 125 years ago that escalated into bloodshed.

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In Bosnia and Herzegovina, from which a large number of young people have been leaving for years, which records high unemployment and corruption and is facing a new very likely political crisis due to issues with the electoral process, Labor Day looked completely different, like in countries with no problems.

Only one symbolic protest was held in Tuzla, and the decor of May 1 was marked only by the parades of brass bands across the country and mass outings to picnic areas and multi-day vacations, as most institutions in Bosnia and Herzegovina have combined the weekend with Tuesday and Wednesday.

In Bosnia and Herzegovina, Labor Day is celebrated for two days, as in the time of communism.

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Trade unionists in Montenegro complained about low wages and warned that society has divided into an elite of millionaires and those struggling for mere existence.

According to official data, nearly 83,000 workers received a salary of 250 euros last year, while about 32,000 received the minimum wage of 193 euros.

Unions at a gathering in Podgorica called on the government to include about 30,000 workers who work “illegally” into the legal labor market, to stop the growth of tax debt, confiscate illegally acquired property, annul harmful privatizations, increase the profit tax, and introduce a luxury tax.