Spotlight: Protests, demonstrations staged across world on May Day

Many cities around the world were swept by protests and demonstrations on Friday, which marked the International Workers' Day.

Most events were peaceful protests for workers' rights and anti-austerity demonstrations. But violent clashes between police and protesters erupted in some cities, where protesters were arrested and stores and cars were vandalized.

Here is a look at some of the May Day rallies across the world:

GERMANY

Demonstrators promoting workers' rights on May Day in Berlin threw stones and bottles at police cars.

Several roads and underground stations were closed as protesters took the streets in Berlin's Kreuzberg area. Special police units and a helicopter were sent to maintain order in the streets.

One police officer was injured after protesters threw fireworks and stones at security forces during the May Day celebrations north of Berlin. Fifteen people were detained, according to reports of local media.

UNITED STATES

In Seattle, police said black-clad marchers threw wrenches, sticks and stones at police in the city's Capitol Hill neighborhood Friday evening, injuring three officers, two of them seriously. Police responded with pepper spray and pepper balls and arrested several people.

A daytime worker and immigrant rights rally that drew hundreds of people in Seattle was peaceful, but tensions flared during the evening event, which was billed as an anti-capitalist march.

In Portland, Oregon, authorities said an unruly crowd hurled projectiles and chairs at officers Friday evening. Police there temporarily closed a major bridge over the Willamette River during the rush hour of the evening traffic and sprayed pepper at demonstrators when a May Day march deviated from its permitted route through downtown.

In Denver, two dozen protesters rallied against economic inequality, while about 1,000 marched in New York at an event that also decried police abuse in the wake of the in-custody death of Freddie Gray in Baltimore.

In Austin, Texas, about 200 marchers rallying against police brutality closed a downtown bridge with their members, but police blocked them from marching onto a freeway.

GREECE

An estimated 13,000 people took part in three separate May Day marches in Athens, carrying banners and shouting anti-austerity slogans. Minor clashes broke out at the end of the peaceful marches, when a handful of hooded youths threw a petrol bomb at riot police. No injuries or arrests were reported.

ITALY

Parked cars were torched, bank windows were smashed and garbage bins were set on fire during a violent anti-Expo protest that took place in Italy's Milan on Friday following the official opening of Expo Milano 2015.

The protesters were angered by the Expo's exploitation of workers by offering precarious contracts and its reliance on volunteers.

Critics of the Expo also argued the event is a waste of public funds and much of the investment poured into the project has been lost to corruption that resulted in cost overruns and construction hold-ups.

THE PHILIPPINES

More than 10,000 workers and activists marched in Manila and burned an effigy of Philippine President Benigno Aquino III to protest low wages and a law allowing employers to hire laborers for less than six months to avoid giving benefits received by regular workers.

Workers in metropolitan Manila now receive 481 pesos (10.8 U.S. dollars) in daily minimum wage after a 15-peso (0.34 dollar) increase in March.

Although it is the highest rate in the country, it is still "a far cry from being decent," according to the protesters.

SOUTH KOREA

Thousands of people marched in the capital Seoul on Friday to protest government labor policies and the handling of a ferry disaster that killed more than 300 people a year ago.

Angry protesters and relatives of South Korea's ferry disaster victims clashed with riot police after they were blocked from marching toward the president's office in Seoul.

Violence erupted when some 2,000 people, led by dozens of victims' relatives wearing yellow jackets, tried to force their way through barricades set up by thousands of riot police.

TURKEY

Turkish riot police fired water cannon and tear gas to disperse May Day protesters who intended to march from several districts of Istanbul to iconic Taksim Square on Friday.

Istanbul Governor Vasip Sahin said in a statement that a total of 203 people were detained. Five policemen and 18 demonstrators were injured.

Turkish police lockdowned the city from Thursday night with extensive security measures to prevent the protesters from gathering in Taksim. More than 20,000 policemen were deployed on the ground. Endi