Workers mark May Day in many countries with protests over labour issues 

channelnewsasia.com First created : 02 May 2003 0736 hrs (SST) 2336 hrs (GMT) Last modified : 02 May 2003 0748 hrs (SST) 2348 hrs (GMT)

Many around the world have used the traditional May Day rallies to protest over labour and political issues.

While most marches have been fairly peaceful, one person was killed in Venezuela when gunfire disrupted a massive demonstration against the government.Advertisement Violence also marred May Day events in parts of Europe.

One million protestors marched throughout Germany, double last year's estimates.

Some of the rallies turned violent in Berlin, leading to police to use water cannon and tear gas to disperse the crowd.

Over 100 people were arrested from various marches.

In London, May Day marches by anti-capitalist demonstrators went ahead largely without incident despite anarchists preparing a hit-list of more than 50 "companies of mass destruction".

Scuffles broke out for a while, but it was nothing the 4,000 police officers mobilised in the British capital could not handle.

There were some clashes too in Turkey where marchers demonstrated against the US, the International Monetary Fund and the US-led war against Iraq.

But there was no violence in France where tens of thousands of workers took to the streets to press home their opposition to the government's reform of the pension system.