European workers mark May Day with austerity program protests
Source: Agencies |
May 2, 2012, Wednesday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
BANGING drums and waving flags, tens of thousands of workers marked May Day in cities across Europe yesterday with a mixture of anger and gloom over austerity measures imposed by leaders trying to contain the eurozone's intractable debt crisis.
Taking the baton from Asia, where unions demanded wage increases as they transformed the day from one celebrating workers rights to one of international protest, workers turned out in droves in Greece, France and Spain - the latest focus of a debt nightmare that has already forced three eurozone countries to seek financial bailouts.
In the United States, demonstrations, strikes and acts of civil disobedience were planned, including what could be the country's most high-profile Occupy rallies since the anti-Wall Street encampments came down in the autumn.
Under a gray Madrid sky, 25-year Adriana Jaime said she turned out because she speaks four languages and has a masters degree, but works for "peanuts" in a university research project that was to last three years but has been cut to three months for lack of money.
"I am here because there is no future for the young people of this country," she said as marchers protested at health care and education spending cuts and other austerity measures taken by the new conservative government.
Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy is trying desperately to cut a bloated deficit, restore investor confidence in Spain's public finances, lower the jobless rate, and fend off fears it will join Greece, Ireland and Portugal in needing a bailout.
Ana Lopez, a 44-year-old civil servant, said the government was doing nothing to help workers and that the economic crisis was benefiting the banks.
"Money does not just disappear. It does not fly away. It just changes hands, and now it is with the banks," Lopez said. "And the politicians are puppets of the banks."
In France, tens of thousands of workers and union leaders were marking May Day with marches and rallies ahead of presidential elections that a Socialist is expected to win for the first time since 1988.
President Nicolas Sarkozy is seen as too friendly with the rich. Challenger and favorite Francois Hollande has promised high taxes on the rich.
In debt-crippled Greece, more than 2,000 people marched through central Athens in protests centered on the country's harsh austerity program.
In Germany, where the economy is churning and unemployment is at a record low, unions held May Day rallies anyway. The DGB umbrella union group criticized Europe's treaty enshrining fiscal discipline and the resulting austerity measures across the continent. The group called instead for a stimulus program to revive eurozone economies.
Around 100,000 people in Moscow - including President Dmitry Medvedev and President-elect Vladimir Putin - took part in the main May Day march through the city center - though not in protest.
Television images showed the two leaders happily chatting with participants on the clear-and-cool spring day.
Earlier, thousands protested in the Philippines, Indonesia and other Asian nations, with demands for wage rises amid soaring oil prices a common theme.
Taking the baton from Asia, where unions demanded wage increases as they transformed the day from one celebrating workers rights to one of international protest, workers turned out in droves in Greece, France and Spain - the latest focus of a debt nightmare that has already forced three eurozone countries to seek financial bailouts.
In the United States, demonstrations, strikes and acts of civil disobedience were planned, including what could be the country's most high-profile Occupy rallies since the anti-Wall Street encampments came down in the autumn.
Under a gray Madrid sky, 25-year Adriana Jaime said she turned out because she speaks four languages and has a masters degree, but works for "peanuts" in a university research project that was to last three years but has been cut to three months for lack of money.
"I am here because there is no future for the young people of this country," she said as marchers protested at health care and education spending cuts and other austerity measures taken by the new conservative government.
Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy is trying desperately to cut a bloated deficit, restore investor confidence in Spain's public finances, lower the jobless rate, and fend off fears it will join Greece, Ireland and Portugal in needing a bailout.
Ana Lopez, a 44-year-old civil servant, said the government was doing nothing to help workers and that the economic crisis was benefiting the banks.
"Money does not just disappear. It does not fly away. It just changes hands, and now it is with the banks," Lopez said. "And the politicians are puppets of the banks."
In France, tens of thousands of workers and union leaders were marking May Day with marches and rallies ahead of presidential elections that a Socialist is expected to win for the first time since 1988.
President Nicolas Sarkozy is seen as too friendly with the rich. Challenger and favorite Francois Hollande has promised high taxes on the rich.
In debt-crippled Greece, more than 2,000 people marched through central Athens in protests centered on the country's harsh austerity program.
In Germany, where the economy is churning and unemployment is at a record low, unions held May Day rallies anyway. The DGB umbrella union group criticized Europe's treaty enshrining fiscal discipline and the resulting austerity measures across the continent. The group called instead for a stimulus program to revive eurozone economies.
Around 100,000 people in Moscow - including President Dmitry Medvedev and President-elect Vladimir Putin - took part in the main May Day march through the city center - though not in protest.
Television images showed the two leaders happily chatting with participants on the clear-and-cool spring day.
Earlier, thousands protested in the Philippines, Indonesia and other Asian nations, with demands for wage rises amid soaring oil prices a common theme.
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