ISTANBUL – Turkish police fired tear gas and rubber bullets at protesters and arrested more than 200 people, even as skirmishes broke out in France amid May 1 rallies that drew tens of thousands of demonstrators around the world.

More than 42,000 Turkish police officers were deployed in Istanbul, where 217 people were detained after the authorities banned the May 1 Labour Day rallies at the city’s historic Taksim Square.

In France, police said that about 25 people were arrested in Paris, where some protesters lobbed fireworks and stones at security forces.

In Germany, 10 people were seriously injured after a parade float overturned near the south-western city of Freiburg.

Police in Istanbul clashed with demonstrators near the city hall in the Sarachane district, firing tear gas and rubber bullets to stop protesters from breaching barricades, AFP reporters said.

The Turkish Interior Ministry said 226 people were arrested, including 217 in Istanbul, for participating in demonstrations in unauthorised areas and failing to heed police warnings.

In a message posted on X, formerly Twitter, Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said that protesters had been “attempting to walk to Taksim Square and attack our police officers”.

Tall metal barriers were put up around the square, where the authorities have banned rallies since 2013, when the location was the focus of demonstrations against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government.

“We have demonstrated our will to celebrate May Day at Taksim Square. We have legal grounds,” Ms Arzu Cerkezoglu, secretary-general of the Confederation of Progressive Trade Unions of Turkey, told AFP.

In 2023, Turkey’s top constitutional court ruled that the closure of Taksim Square to protests was a violation of rights.

“Taksim is an important symbol for us,” said Ms Cerkezoglu.

The square was a rallying ground for May Day celebrations until 1977, when about 34 people were killed during protests. The authorities opened it up again in 2010, but it was then shut after protests in 2013.

The Media and Law Studies Association, a human rights group, said several journalists were pushed to the ground during the clash.

Main roads across Istanbul were closed to traffic, while public transport, including ferries and underground trains, was halted because of the security clampdown.

‘Here for the workers’

In France, demonstrator turnout was much lower than in 2023, when a large part of the country was up in arms about a deeply unpopular pension reform.

The powerful General Confederation of Labour union said more than 200,000 people took to the streets in France – less than 10 per cent of the number it claimed demonstrated in 2023.

“I’m here for the workers. It’s important to mobilise for our rights,” said a 27-year-old protester in Paris called Louise, who declined to give her surname.

Other protests were held in Marseille, Toulouse, Lyon and the western city of Nantes, where an AFP photographer reported seeing skirmishes between police and demonstrators.

In Germany, the police said 30 people were injured – 10 of them seriously – after a parade float being dragged by a tractor toppled onto its side around a bend in the town of Kandern, near Freiburg.

Some of the injured were taken by helicopter to a hospital in neighbouring Switzerland, the police said.

More than 2,000 people demonstrated in Athens, Greek police said.

At least 2,500 members of the Tunisian General Labour Union protested in central Tunis.

Mass rallies took place all over Latin America.

Colombian President Gustavo Petro used a May Day rally to announce that his government was cutting diplomatic ties with Israel, whose leader he described as “genocidal” over the war in Gaza.

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, a former union leader, vowed to “make the very rich pay more” in an address to gathered workers in Sao Paulo.

Thousands protested in Buenos Aires and other Argentine cities against the economic liberalisation agenda and labour reforms of self-described “anarcho-capitalist” President Javier Milei.

In Caracas, workers demonstrating against low wages clashed with supporters of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on motorcycles.

May Day rallies were also held in several Asian countries.

Tens of thousands of people flooded Sri Lanka’s capital Colombo to attend May Day rallies staged by three of the main political parties as a springboard for presidential elections later in 2024.

In Taiwan, thousands of workers gathered in front of the presidential office demanding better working conditions. AFP