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May Day Celebrations Held Throughout World


Annual May Day celebrations have been held throughout the world Tuesday, many resulting in confrontations between citizens and authorities.

Police in the southern Chinese territory of Macau fired shots into the air to disperse protesters demanding better working conditions and a government crackdown on illegal laborers.

Officers opened fire after hundreds of protesters broke through police lines during a march. Demonstrators and police briefly scuffled but protesters managed to continue on their route.

In Indonesia, tens of thousands of demonstrators took to the streets of Jakarta demanding higher wages and better working conditions.

In Turkey, police used tear gas and water cannons to disperse thousands of protesters. Authorities also detained more than 500 people to prevent a May Day rally by leftists in Istanbul's Taksim Square.

Authorities declared the square off-limits to protesters, but allowed trade union leaders to lay flowers at the square to mark the day.

Police in Germany's capital, Berlin, detained at least 47 people for throwing stones and bottles during May Day clashes.

Across Russia at least 100,000 people marched in May Day rallies.

Demonstrations were peaceful with most avoiding criticism of the Kremlin.

In Moscow, thousands of officers looked on as about 25,000 trade union members participated in a rally. The liberal opposition party, Yabloko, mustered a much smaller protest march of its own in the capital.

The Communist Party also organized a demonstration, as did pro-Kremlin parties.

Russia has renamed the holiday "Spring and Labor Day."

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