Demonstrators in France, Greece, Turkey, Egypt, Germany and Iraq were among those protesting on a range of issues

This article is more than 9 years old

This article is more than 9 years old

Hundreds of thousands of people in countries across the world have taken part in global street protests to mark May Day.

Demonstrators in France, Greece, Turkey, Egypt, Germany and Iraq were among those protesting on a range of issues including unemployment, women's rights and immigration.

In France up to 120,000 people turned out for marches in 200 locations. The protesters voiced anger over high unemployment - measured at 9.6% - and job cuts in the public sector, while showing support for popular uprising across the Arab world.

In Greece unions said around 12,000 workers took to the streets in central Athens. Cuts in public sector pay and pensions along with higher taxes were the main focus of protests.

Unemployment in Greece has also climbed to a record high of 15.1%. After the rallies there were minor scuffles between police and a small group of self-proclaimed anarchists in the bohemian district of Exarhia in central Athens.

In Turkey, thousands of union members and leftist political activists gathered in Istanbul's Taksim Square for a second year of May Day celebrations.

The May Day rallies had been banned in Taksim Square from when army generals swept into power in 1980 up until last year.

Meanwhile in Iraq, hundreds of people, many of them members of the Iraqi Communist Party, demonstrated in the capital Baghdad to press for more jobs and equal labour rights for women. Thousands of Iraqis, inspired by uprisings elsewhere in the Arab region, have taken to the streets in recent months to press for better basic services and an end to corruption.

Demonstrators, many carrying red flags associated with Iraq's communist party, marched peacefully in Baghdad's central Firdous Square, chanting: "First of May is the day for workers."

In Europe, around 10,000 demonstrators, flanked by a heavy police presence, took to the streets for the "Revolutionary May Day" demonstrations in the German capital, Berlin. There were a number of violent scuffles, with protestors throwing bottles and fireworks at police in Berlin's Kreuzberg district, where the May Day activities traditionally take place. Along the demonstration route protestors destroyed the window of a bank and a bus station.

In Moscow, around 500 nationalists rallied in the centre of the city to protest against their government's financial support of the impoverished regions that make up Russia's north caucasus. Donning surgical face masks, bands of young people marched peacefully down Moscow's multi-laned streets with large red and black banners reading "Russia for Russians!" and "Migrant workers get out!"".