May Day protests

Tens of thousands of women march to mark International Women’s Day in Istanbul

Tens of thousands of people marched across Australia on Jan. 26 in an “Invasion Day” protest calling for a rethink of the national day they say is offensive to indigenous people.

The civil servants' union (ADEDY) is to hold a protest rally from 1 p.m. on Tuesday in Klafthmonos Square, central Athens, to protest a scheme for the evaluation of Greek civil servants.

In a statement on Friday, ADEDY described the scheme as "extortionate, disruptive and unconstitutional."

Thousands of striking Greek municipal workers marched through Athens on Thursday to press for better employment status, in the latest of a series of protests that have hindered trash collection in major cities.

Workers hit by lower living standards and high unemployment are expected to take part in May Day protests staged in Athens and other cities on Monday.

Greece's umbrella unions, the private sector's GSEE and the public sector's ADEDY, are organizing a rally at 11 a.m. in central Athens. It will start at Klafthmonos Square and end in front of Parliament on Syntagma Square.

May Day celebrations in Istanbul will be held in the city's Bakırköy district this year after authorities again refused to heed workers' demands to use Taksim Square, the Confederation of Progressive Trade Unions (DİSK) said on April 26.

A nationwide strike in Greece against spending cuts disrupted public transport, state-run schools, ferries and national rail services Thursday, and left public hospitals running with emergency staff.

More than 7,000 demonstrators marched in three separate demonstrations in the capital to protest against cost cuts the government is taking to satisfy its bailout creditors.

The Communist Party-affiliated labor union, PAME, is organizing a rally in central Athens on Thursday.

The event, to be held in Omonia Square at 10.30 a.m., will be a protest against evaluations and a so-called mobility scheme of forced transfers in the public sector. 

The private sector workers' union, GSEE, on Wednesday called a 24-hour strike for December 8 to protest the government's ongoing austerity drive.

Greek Police arrested 14 people following anti-austerity protests in Athens on Sunday.

Eleven of the people were arrested in the area of Exarchia and the other three near Syntagma Square after they broke off from a peaceful protest and lobbed firebombs at police.