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![\"FIFA](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/cee0578bcbd30b0a76db05c581c3e477_Canada_FIFA_Congress_Soccer_89729.jpg.webp\")
<\/p>\nFIFA President Gianni Infantino, second from right, speaks during the 76th FIFA Congress in Vancouver, British Columbia, Thursday, April 30, 2026. (Ethan Cairns\/The Canadian Press via AP)<\/p>\n
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Iran is marked absent as FIFA Secretary General Mattias Grafstrom, fourth from front left, conducts roll call during the 76th FIFA Congress in Vancouver, British Columbia, Thursday, April 30, 2026. (Darryl Dyck\/The Canadian Press via AP)<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n FIFA President Gianni Infantino addresses the 76th FIFA Congress in Vancouver, British Columbia, Thursday, April 30, 2026. (Darryl Dyck\/The Canadian Press via AP)<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n PARIS (AP) \u2014 Activists worldwide held May Day rallies and street protests Friday, calling for peace, higher wages and better working conditions as many workers grapple with rising energy costs and shrinking purchasing power tied to the Iran war.<\/p>\n May 1 is a public holiday in many countries to mark International Workers\u2019 Day, or Labor Day, when workers\u2019 unions traditionally rally around wages, pensions, inequality and broader political issues. Demonstrations were held from Seoul, Sydney and Jakarta to many European capitals. In the U.S., activists opposing President Donald Trump\u2019s policies also were holding marches and boycotts.<\/p>\n \u201cWorking people refuse to pay the price for Donald Trump\u2019s war in the Middle East,\u201d the European Trade Union Confederation, which represents 93 trade union organizations in 41 European countries, said. \u201cToday\u2019s rallies show working people will not stand by and see their jobs and living standards destroyed.\u201d<\/p>\n What to know about May Day: <\/p>\n Rising living costs linked to the conflict in the Middle East emerged as a key theme in Friday\u2019s rallies.<\/p>\n In the Philippine capital, Manila, large crowds denounced the U.S. role in the Iran war. Protesters clashed with police blocking the way near the U.S. Embassy.<\/p>\n Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto joined a rally in Jakarta where workers called for stronger government protection from rising prices and difficulties in finding raw materials for key industries.<\/p>\n On a main avenue in Casablanca, Morocco\u2019s largest city, taxi drivers honked their horns and bus drivers parked their vehicles to protest rising fuel costs.<\/p>\n \u201cAll my expenses have gone up, but my wages haven\u2019t budged,\u201d Akherraz Lhachimi of the Moroccan Labor Union said.<\/p>\n Turkish authorities in Istanbul detained hundreds of demonstrators for attempting to march in areas declared off-limits on security grounds, most notably central Taksim Square, the epicenter of 2013 protests. May Day rallies in Turkey are frequently marred by clashes with authorities.<\/p>\n Tens of thousands of people crowded into a public square across from the U.S. Embassy in Havana, celebrating Cuba’s workers and decrying U.S. sanctions. Many held banners that read, \u201cDown with Imperialism\u201d and \u201cU.S. hands off Cuba.\u201d President Miguel D\u00edaz-Canel and former President Ra\u00fal Castro attended the event.<\/p>\n Several rallies were staged in South Africa, where the head of the Congress of South African Trade Unions, Zingiswa Losi, said workers were \u201csuffocating\u201d under rising costs of food, electricity, transport and healthcare.<\/p>\n May Day carries special meaning this year in France, after a heated debate about whether employees should be allowed to work on the country\u2019s most protected public holiday \u2014 the only day when most employees have a mandatory paid day off. <\/p>\n Almost all businesses, shops and malls are closed, and only essential sectors such as hospitals, transport and hotels are exempt. A recent parliamentary proposal to expand work on the day prompted major outcry from unions and left-leaning politicians.<\/p>\n \u201cDon\u2019t touch May Day,\u201d unions said in a joint statement.<\/p>\n Tens of thousands of people joined marches across the country, including in Paris, where brief scuffles with police broke out.<\/p>\n \u201cMay 1 is not just any day,\u201d Small and Medium-sized Businesses Minister Serge Papin said. \u201cIt symbolizes social gains stemming from a century of building social rules that have led to the labor code we know in France. It is indeed a special day.\u201d<\/p>\n In the United States, where May Day is not a federal holiday, May Day Strong, a coalition of activist groups and labor unions, called on people to protest under the banner of \u201cworkers over billionaires.\u201d<\/p>\n Voicing strong opposition to Trump’s policies, organizers listed thousands of May Day actions across the country and called for an economic blackout through \u201cno school, no work, no shopping.\u201d<\/p>\n Demands include taxing the rich and putting an end to the Trump administration\u2019s immigration crackdown. <\/p>\n While labor and immigrant rights are historically intertwined, the focus of May Day rallies in the U.S. shifted to immigration in 2006. That\u2019s when roughly 1 million people, including nearly half a million in Chicago alone, took to the streets to protest federal legislation that would have made living in the U.S. without legal permission a felony.<\/p>\n May Day, or International Workers\u2019 Day, traces back more than a century to a pivotal period in U.S. labor history.<\/p>\n In the 1880s, unions pushed for an eight-hour workday. A Chicago rally in May 1886 turned deadly when a bomb exploded and police responded with gunfire. Several labor activists \u2014 most of them immigrants \u2014 were convicted of conspiracy and other charges; four were executed.<\/p>\n Unions later designated May 1 to honor workers. A monument in Chicago\u2019s Haymarket Square commemorates them with the inscription: \u201cDedicated to all workers of the world.\u201d<\/p>\n Associated Press journalists Barry Hatton in Lisbon, Portugal, Giada Zampano in Rome, Munir Ahmed in Islamabad, Niniek Karmini in Jakarta, Indonesia, Jim Gomez in Manila, Philippines, Cinar Kiper in Istanbul, Turkey, Akram Oubachir in Casablanca, Morocco, and D\u00e1nica Coto in Havana contributed to this report.<\/p>\n Turkish, right, and Greek Cypriots gathering s they marking May Day inside the U.N. buffer zone at Ledra Palace hotel in the divided capital of Nicosia, Friday, May 1, 2026. (AP Photo\/Petros Karadjias)<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n People gather before a May Day rally in Chicago, Friday, May 1, 2026. (AP Photo\/Nam Y. Huh)<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n An effigy of U.S. President Donald Trump burns during an International Workers’ Day march marking May Day in Panama City, Friday, May 1, 2026. (AP Photo\/Matias Delacroix)<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n Members of trade unions take part in a May Day rally in Tsakane, east of Johannesburg, South Africa, Friday, May 1, 2026. (AP Photo\/Themba Hadebe)<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n Protesters march during the May Day demonstration in Rennes, western France, Friday, May 1, 2026. (AP Photo)<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n A man holds a picture or former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro wearing a prison uniform during a May Day rally demanding greater labor rights in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Friday, May 1, 2026. (AP Photo\/Andre Penner)<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n Protesters march during the May Day demonstration in Paris, Friday, May 1, 2026. (AP Photo\/Aurelien Morissard)<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n An union member is detained by a Turkish police officer as people try to march towards Taksim square in Istanbul, Turkey, Friday, May 1, 2026, during Labor Day celebrations. (AP Photo\/Khalil Hamra)<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n Members of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions stage a rally on May Day in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, May 1, 2026. (AP Photo\/Ahn Young-joon)<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n Members of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions stage a rally on May Day in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, May 1, 2026. (AP Photo\/Ahn Young-joon)<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n Union members scuffle with Turkish police officers as they try to march towards Taksim square in Istanbul, Turkey, Friday, May 1, 2026, during Labor Day celebrations. (AP Photo\/Khalil Hamra)<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n Union members carefully step through rain-formed puddles to participate in a May Day rally in the rain Friday, May 1, 2026, in Tokyo. (AP Photo\/Eugene Hoshiko)<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n People march to mark International Workers’ Day, also known as May Day, in Sydney, Friday, May 1, 2026. (AP Photo\/Rick Rycroft)<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n People march to mark International Workers’ Day, also known as May Day, in Sydney, Friday, May 1, 2026. (AP Photo\/Rick Rycroft)<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n FILE – Activist and workers raise their clenched fists during a May Day rally in Manila, Philippines, May 1, 2025. (AP Photo\/Aaron Favila, File)<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n Laborers protest during a May Day demonstration in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Thursday, April 30, 2026. (AP Photo\/Rodrigo Abd)<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n Laborers hold flares during a May Day demonstration in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Thursday, April 30, 2026. (AP Photo\/Rodrigo Abd)<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n
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