Hundreds of Thousands Attend May Day Rallies Worldwide

Tens of thousands turned out across Spain in cities including Barcelona, Valencia and the capital Madrid. Union leaders said there were “4.9 million more reasons” to take to the streets. Figures for the first quarter put the number of jobless at 4,910,200, or 21.29 percent: a 14-year high and the highest in the industrialised world.

Morocco’s May Day rallies were marked by denunciations of Thursday’s bombing of a Marrakesh cafe that killed 16 people, mainly foreigners. Thousands of Mauritanian workers marched in the capital demanding better working conditions and higher salaries to match soaring food costs.

Swaziland unions marked May Day by announcing they had formed a single labour federation in a bid to increase pressure on the government. At least 4,000 people marched in Hong Kong in a noisy procession calling for stronger labour laws, even as the city best known as a glitzy financial hub introduced the first ever minimum wage for its legions of low-paid workers.

In Seoul at least 50,000 workers gathered to chant slogans calling for higher pay, better job security and to slam the conservative administration. Protesters in Indonesia called for better social security, turning out in their thousands — with some 10,000 security personnel in attendance.