May Day rallies are happening all around the world Wednesday as frustrated citizens take the streets to protest unfair conditions for workers. In Europe, the protests are particularly passionate as citizens denounce austerity measures that have eliminated benefits and reduced pay.
May Day, or International Workers Day, is a national holiday in 80 countries and celebrated unofficially in others. The day was founded to commemorate the Haymarket Riot, a peaceful protest for an eight-hour work day that exploded in violence in 1866.
The streets of Madrid were filled with workers hoping to urge the government to find ways to end the record-high unemployment. Unemployment in Spain is at an almost unthinkable 27 percent according to Reuters.
"The future of Spain looks terrible, we're going backwards with this government," Alicia Candelas, a former civil servant who has been out of work for two years, told Reuters.
In Athens, Greece 1,000 police officers were prepared for violence that never materialized. The protest by 5,000 workers ended peacefully. Alexis Tspiras, leader of the Greek anti-bailout Syriza party, told reporters why he had taken to the streets.
"The economy won't be resurrected by the bankrupt banks and the corrupt political system but by the workers and their fight," Tspiras said.
Pope Francis took a moment during his weekly general audience to plead with governments to find a solution to the unemployment crisis.
"I think of how many, and not just young people, are unemployed, many times due to a purely economic conception of society, which seeks selfish profit, beyond the parameters of social justice," Pope Francis said.
Protests in Bangladesh were particularly virulent. Crowds were spurred on by outrage over the collapse of an illegally built garment factory that killed over 400 people. That tragedy and a garment factory fire that killed 112 in November has lead to increased ire over the way the garment industry treats workers, according to Yahoo.
In the United States over 30,000 protestors are expected to clog the streets of Los Angeles demanding immigration reform, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Protests also took place in Taiwan, Indonesia, Cambodia and the Philippines demanding higher working wages, according to Yahoo.
While each May Day protest takes on issues of their own the unifying theme is one supporting the rights of workers. Illias Illiopoulos, general secretary of the Greek union ADEDY, explained his reasons for protesting in a way that properly represents all of the May Day protests across the world.
"Our message today is very clear: 'Enough with these policies that hurt people and make the poor poorer," Illiopoulos said.
