Workers unite for May Day

Originally a day to commemorate the 1886 Haymarket Massacre in Chicago, in which a number of civilians demonstrating for an eight-hour working day were killed by police, May Day now witnesses rallies around the world in celebration of the international labour movement. Hundreds of thousands took to the streets around the world yesterday, including in Manila, Havana, Baghdad, Vladivostok (4), Istanbul (5), and Tunis (7).

Police in Berlin (6) were braced for May Day violence. For the past two decades the date has been accompanied by street battles between far-right skinheads,anti-fascist groups and police.