>From: "Chris Doss" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >Peaceful May Day protests turn violent > >LONDON-- Colorful protesters >peacefully engaged in a little "guerrilla >gardening" outside Britain's >Parliament building on Monday, but >London's streets later erupted into >May Day violence as masked activists >trashed a fast-food restaurant and >clashed with riot-geared police. > >Violence marred other May Day >commemorations around the world, >including Hamburg, Germany, where >12 police officers and 25 protesters >were injured when leftists and police >clashed just after midnight. > >London's demonstration began quietly >near Parliament, where protesters in >colorful costumes planted seeds to >add more green to Parliament Square. >But a group broke away from the >protest and trashed a Whitehall >McDonald's restaurant, smashing all >the windows and tearing down the >golden arches sign. > >Police pressed the demonstrators -- who pelted them with rocks, bricks, >bottles and anything else that could be thrown -- toward Trafalgar Square, >where the demonstration cooled. > >Assistant Police Commissioner Mike Todd, who called the attackers >"mindless thugs," said one officer was badly injured by a brick in the face >and seven people were arrested. > >"It does prove there are a small minority of people intent on violence," he >said. "This is not protest. This is criminality, and these people need to be >held to account." > > German police prepared for violence > >In Hamburg, police said more than >100 people were arrested. >The protesters threw rocks at banks, >broke shop windows and set fire to >cars in the center of the city before >police charged into the crowd, using >water cannon and armored vehicles to >clear the area. One officer suffered a >broken arm in the melee. > >Berlin was also the scene of clashes >when police intervened to break up >fights between neo-Nazi marchers and >anti-fascist counterdemonstrators in >the east Berlin district of Hellersdorf. > >About 300 neo-Nazis, many of them skinheads, carried anti-immigrant >banners to the Hellersdorf rally, where they listened to right-wing speeches >and music. > >Worried about violence, which has become a mainstay of May Day >celebrations in recent years, Berlin police massed 2,500 officers to watch >over the situation. Hundreds more officers were posted across the rest of >the city. > > Injuries in Philippines >Police also employed water cannon in the Philippines, where demonstrators >threw rocks while trying to break through police lines keeping them from >Malacanang presidential palace in Manila. > > Labor groups claim President Joseph > Estrada has sided with employers in > labor disputes, despite campaign > promises to back labor's struggle > against poverty. > > Several protesters and one firefighter > were injured, and seven members of a > labor group were arrested. > > Violence also erupted in South Korea, > where police tried to keep students > from joining a worker rally in Seoul. > > Some 7,000 police officers kept watch > over a worker march in Colombo, Sri > Lanka, where Tamil Tiger rebels have > waged a bloody battle for an independent >homeland. A rebel assassinated then-President Ranasinghe Premadasa at a May >Day rally in 1993. > >Poland's Baltic port Gdansk -- birthplace of Poland's modern labor >movement-- also saw police move in to quell violence. According to private >Radio Zet, riot police stopped dozens of skinheads who were pelting leftist >marchers with eggs filled with red paint. > > Less violence elsewhere > > Elsewhere, May Day gatherings were > more peaceful. Pope John Paul II, a > laborer in World War II Poland, warned > that basic human rights must be > protected as economic and trade > policies are globalized. > > "New realities which are forcefully > affecting the productive process, such > as globalization of finance, of the > economy, of commerce and of work, > should never be allowed to violate the > dignity and centrality of the human > person or the democracy of peoples," > John Paul said at a Vatican Mass for > the world's workers. > >In Russia, attendance at the Communist-led May Day march was low in >Moscow and half-dozen other cities. > > In other areas: >Paris: French far-right parties staged traditional marches, targeting >non-French nationals. > >Turkey: Tens of thousands demonstrated against the International Monetary >Fund. > >Lebanon: Workers marched through Beirut, demanding better pay and job >security. > >Japan: More than 1,000 rallies nationwide drew nearly 2 million people. > >Hong Kong: Protesters smashed rice bowls -- the traditional symbol of the >worker's livelihood. > >Beijing: Most Chinese took the day off and marked the occasion at parks or >at visits with friends and relatives. > >Cambodia: More than 1,000 garment industry workers demanded higher >wages and better working conditions. > >Cuba: President Fidel Castro called for millions to focus on 6-year-old >Elian Gonzalez, the subject of a bitter custody battle between his Cuban >father and Miami relatives in the United States. > >Slovakia: Supporters of former Slovak Prime Minister Vladimir Meciar >demonstrated against high unemployment and a criminal investigation that >resulted in Meciar's arrest last week. > >Zimbabwe: Labor unions told workers to stay home and called for an end to >the land reform violence that has swept the country in recent weeks. > >The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report. >________________________________________________________________________ >Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com > > __________________________________ KOMINFORM P.O. 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