May Day protests: Hundreds arrested across Europe as demonstrations turn violent

Mass rallies, strikes and violence in towns and cities from Sweden to Turkey

Tear gas thrown at May Day rally in Paris

Hundreds of demonstrators have been arrested across Europe as May Day protests turned violent.

European capitals from Paris to Moscow and Copenhagen to Athens saw mass rallies, strikes and violence on the streets.

French police clashed with stone-throwing protesters who set fires and smashed up vehicles as thousands of people gathered for May Day rallies under tight security.

Neo-nazis scuffled with police in Sweden while in Greece a mass-walkout crippled public transport.

The global day of action saw people take to the streets in dozens of Asian and African capitals, with cities in North and South America also braced for disruption later on Wednesday.

A union rally in London was carried off peacefully and police there said they were not expecting significant demonstrations or violence.

Follow all the action and reaction in our liveblog below.

Key Points

• Thousands of police deployed in Paris 
• Greek public transport crippled 
• Berlin braced for disruption
• Activists in Russia arrested
• Rallies also taking place in dozens of Asian cities

[1 May 2019 14:19 · Tom Batchelor]

Jeremy Corbyn has tweeted a May Day message about climate change, following his call for MPs to accept their “historic duty” and declare a national climate emergency following the wave of Extinction Rebellion protests.

[1 May 2019 14:38 · Tom Batchelor]

More from Paris, where police said 55 people were arrested in the Montparnasse area, out of a total of more than 200 arrests. Officers also carried out more than 12,500 "preventive searches" of bags. 

Philippe Martinez, secretary general of one of France's major trade unions, the CGT, temporarily left the march for security reasons during the scuffles between some protesters and police. 

Eventually, a vast majority of peaceful protesters started marching through the streets of Paris. They were heading toward Place d'Italie in southern Paris. 

Some posters read "long live freedom, long live socialism" and "police, gendarmes, join us".

Far-left politician Eric Coquerel, member of France Insoumise ("Rebel France") said "violence is unfortunately often playing against protesters ... That's the number of protesters that will be more efficient." 

[1 May 2019 14:55 · Tom Batchelor]

Clashes between May Day protesters and police have spread to Scandinavia. 

In Goteborg, Sweden, protesters threw cobblestones and fireworks at police as they were being kept away from reaching a rally by a neo-Nazi movement that had received official permission to march. 

In Copenhagen, helmeted police circled their vans around a group of hooded people in black who were shouting anti-police slogans, trying to keep them away from other May Day demonstrations. 

A handful of people were detained in both countries.

[1 May 2019 15:03 · Tom Batchelor]

Swedish media is reporting disturbances between neo-Nazis rallying in the town of Kungälv and police.

[1 May 2019 15:23 · Tom Batchelor]

Meanwhile in London, the march is progressing peacefully...

Some of those on the march are campaigning for the introduction of a public holiday on 1 May 

Badges for sale 

A man hands out flowers as union members walk through central London 

[1 May 2019 15:31 · Tom Batchelor]

The number of arrests continues to grow at marches across Europe.

In Turkey, 127 people have so far been arrested by Istanbul police for attempting to hold illegal demonstrations in various parts of the city.

Activist group OVD-Info says more than 100 people have been arrested at rallies across Russia, with over half of the detentions taking place in St. Petersburg.

[1 May 2019 15:47 · Tom Batchelor]

Venezuela's opposition leader Juan Guaido has called on people to join him for mass May Day rallies in support of his bid to oust President Nicholas Maduro. "See you in the street!," he tweeted. 

You can follow our live coverage of the protests there, here:

[1 May 2019 15:54 · Tom Batchelor]

Members of Italy's 5-Star Movement were among a group of protesters said to have taken part in a demonstration to oppose construction of a high-speed rail tunnel between France and Italy.

Italian news agency ANSA says two protesters and a police officer were injured. Damiano Carretto, a Torino city councillor, said on Facebook he was among them after being hit on the head and hand with a police truncheon.

[1 May 2019 16:16 · Tom Batchelor]

Some May Day thoughts from high profile US congresswomen

[1 May 2019 16:47 · Tom Batchelor]

France has seen perhaps the most significant protests today, with thousands of people demonstrating in cities from Marseille to Bordeaux and Lyon.

In examples of the disruption caused, some 300 yellow vest protesters tried to storm a police station in the Alpine town of Besancon and clashes also broke out in Toulouse.

The Interior Ministry said 151,000 people had demonstrated across the country, including 16,000 in Paris. the CGT - the far-left union - said there had been 80,000 protesters in the capital alone.