May Day rallies in Europe honour workers and protest at governments

Demonstrators participate in a May Day march organised by trade unions in Milan, Italy (LaPresse/AP)

Citizens and trade unions in cities around Europe were taking to the streets on Sunday for May Day marches, and to send out protest messages to their governments, notably in France where the holiday to honour workers was being used as a rallying cry against newly re-elected President Emmanuel Macron.

In Italy, after a two-year lull due to the pandemic, an outdoor mega-concert was set for Rome, with rallies and protests in cities across the country. Apart from work, peace was an underlying theme, with calls for an end to Russia’s war in Ukraine.