{"id":94855,"date":"2021-05-02T06:11:00","date_gmt":"2021-05-02T11:11:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/?p=94855"},"modified":"2021-05-02T06:11:38","modified_gmt":"2021-05-02T11:11:38","slug":"europeans-mark-international-workers-day-with-protests-grim-mood","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/en\/2021\/05\/02\/europeans-mark-international-workers-day-with-protests-grim-mood\/","title":{"rendered":"Europeans Mark International Workers’ Day with Protests, Grim Mood"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"\"VOA \u2014 PARIS – Europeans marked International Workers’ Day, May 1, with traditional lily of the valley flowers and street protests. But this year\u2019s mood was grim, with many countries feeling the health and economic backlash of COVID-19, including a double-dip recession in the 19-member euro currency zone.<\/p>\n

The weather was cold and damp in Paris as thousands of protesters marched down Boulevard Voltaire to Place de la Nation \u2014 or Nation\u2019s Square \u2014 a favorite guillotine spot during the French Revolution.<\/p>\n

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A protester holds a sign denouncing profiteers who have enriched themselves from the COVID crisis, in Paris, May 1, 2021. (Lisa Bryant\/VOA)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

There was no such bloodshed during Saturday afternoon’s march, but there was a similar spirit of revolt. \u201cWe\u2019re here, we\u2019re here \u2026 even if Macron doesn\u2019t like it, we\u2019re still here,\u201d protesters chanted, referring to President Emmanuel Macron. They brandished signs that said \u201cThe Profiteers Must Pay for the Covid Crisis\u201d and \u201cSlavery by Banks.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jean-Pierre, a member of the Lutte Ouvriere workers union, said it was important to fight, especially against capitalists using the pandemic to enrich themselves.<\/p>\n

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\"Protester<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>
Protester Frikia, left, offered a raft of complaints against the government, during the International Workers’ Day march in Paris, May 1, 2021. (Lisa Bryant\/VOA)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Retiree Frikia lambasted Macron\u2019s government for many reasons, including what she said was its lack of support for COVID-19-hit hospitals.<\/p>\n

Last year\u2019s International Workers’ Day protests were canceled because of the pandemic. A year later, COVID-19 has hit many professions hard here, with restaurants, museums, theaters and nightclubs shuttered under rolling lockdowns and curfews.<\/p>\n

But although the eurozone overall has tipped into a new recession, France posted a slight growth this quarter, along with a small drop in unemployment. The government plans to slowly end lockdown, although COVID-19 case numbers remain high.<\/p>\n

Young people have been hit especially hard in this economy, however, with reports of university students going hungry. American Brennan McClure, studying in Paris, joined some of the student demonstrators.<\/p>\n

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\"Graffiti<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>
Graffiti in Paris says, “University students, left to their own devices.” Conditions around COVID-19 have hit many young people hard, with reports of some going hungry. (Lisa Bryant\/VOA)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re manifesting against the change of tariffs for university, for foreign students,” he said. “A lot of things pertaining to the university and how the public system is being neglected. They\u2019re wanting more money to create equality for all the students in France.\u201d<\/p>\n

A year before presidential elections, Saturday’s protests had particularly sharp political overtones. Far-right leader Marine Le Pen, who placed her party\u2019s annual wreath at the Joan of Arc statue in Paris, warned that another term for Macron would be a disaster for France. A number of prominent leftist leaders joined the Paris march.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

VOA \u2014 PARIS – Europeans marked International Workers’ Day, May 1, with traditional lily of the valley flowers and street protests. But this year\u2019s mood was grim, with many countries feeling the health and economic backlash of COVID-19, including a double-dip recession in the 19-member euro currency zone. The weather was cold and damp in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":94856,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-94855","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-recposts"],"translation":{"provider":"WPGlobus","version":"3.0.2","language":"en","enabled_languages":["fa","en"],"languages":{"fa":{"title":true,"content":false,"excerpt":false},"en":{"title":true,"content":true,"excerpt":false}}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94855","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=94855"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94855\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":94858,"href":"https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94855\/revisions\/94858"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/94856"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=94855"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=94855"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=94855"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}