PARIS: Workers of the world scaled back their traditional May Day demos on Friday with coronavirus lockdowns forcing many to rally online while a determined few hit the streets in face masks.

There were arrests in the Philippines, Russia and Turkey, a riot in Indonesia and pepper spray in Hong Kong as some broke confinement rules to hold public assemblies. Most gatherings on this unusual Labour Day, however, were small and without incident.

The traditional festival of the workers’ movement attracts millions of people annually to loud and boisterous marches, and occasional violent confrontations with police.

But with strict social distancing rules in most countries to halt the spread of the virus, many union leaders opted to delay gatherings or move events online faced with the Covid-19 outbreak that has killed more than 233,000 people worldwide.

May Day carries extra significance this year after the epidemic sent the global economy into a tailspin, put unprecedented numbers of people out of work, and cast some of the world’s lower paid workers — nurses, garbage collectors, shop tellers and delivery drivers — in the role of modern-day heroes.

“It is thanks to the labour we celebrate on this day that the nation perseveres,” said President Emmanuel Macron of France, where workers celebrated the popular holiday by banging pots, singing, and displaying banners from their balconies and taking part in online demonstrations.

Macron thanked caregivers, police, farmers, civil servants and other workers who have made it possible for “life to continue in spite of everything”.

In Turkey, some two dozen mask-wearing protesters including a senior union leader were arrested for taking part in a small march in Istanbul in violation of lockdown measures, a photographer said.

Hundreds of Greek workers rallied outside parliament, wearing red scarves over their faces or masks bearing messages of solidarity with health workers. “Covered mouths still have a voice,” read some.

In the Philippines, police detained at least three people as small groups of protesters banged on empty pots and held up placards demanding government aid and safe working conditions.

Some 23 million people — nearly a quarter of the country’s population — faced hunger due to “no work, no pay” provisions in their employment contracts, Jerome Adonis of the May First Movement labour movement said.

Published in Dawn, May 2nd, 2020