May Day protests !

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2012/may/01/eurozone-crisis-greece-venizelos-may-day-protests

12.20pm: Here's a picture of protests whcih took place in the Aspropyrgos industrial area, outside Athens, today.

Photograph: Petros Giannakouris/AP

It was organised by Greek Communist party supporters, to show support for workers at a local steelworks who have been on strike for months.

12.03pm: Here's a picture from the streets of Athens, showing a car that was set on fire while the May Day protests were taking place. It's been extinguished:

Stathis@Stathisgr

Εμπρησμος αυτοκινητου στην Εμ. Μπενακη πριν λιγο, το εσβησε ηδη η πυροσβεστικη #rbnews #1mgrpic.twitter.com/GsX3AOf7

That's via citizen photojournalist @Stathisgr, with thanks to Greek expert@irategreek.

11.45am: News in from Greece, where our correspondent Helena Smithsays the May 1st protest marches are in full flow nationwide.

The rallies have assumed a particular resonance, she says, given the sacrifices forced on Greek workers as the debt-stricken country desperately tries to avert default.

Helena writes:

Workers across Greece have taken to the streets of towns large and small to protest the unprecedented belt-tightening ordinary Greeks have been subjected to over the course of the past two years.

In Athens, where both private and public sector unions are leading mass rallies, the cries of anti-austerity demonstrators are wafting over the city. Ahead of snap general elections on Sunday protestors gathered under the slogan "no one alone, all together we can" – a reflection, unionists say, of their determination to mobilize with other labour groups in a concerted effort to step up opposition to further cut backs.

Communist protestors held a separate rally at the Hellenic Steel plant where workers have been on strike for the last six months.

Whichever government emerges on Sunday will be forced to make an extra €11.5bn in budget savings come June under measures previously agreed with Greece's foreign lenders at the EU and IMF. Greek officials have also been told to shed a further 150,000 jobs from the bloated state sector – widely blamed for igniting the crisis in the first place.

"Whatever government is formed … the only thing it will succeed in sowing is the disappointment and anger of the people," said Aleka Papariga who heads the hardline Orthodox KKE communist party. "Its victory dance won't even last a month. Its [intentions] will be laid bare," said the leader, whose hope is that if a government is formed it will be weak enough to pave the way to a "workers revolution."

All polls, to date, have shown no single party winning a clear majority presaging potential political unrest.

Much of downtown Athens was brought to a grinding halt as protestors also marched on the Labour ministry. Many shouted "Enough, enough! They [the measures] won't pass."

In the midst of a fifth straight year of recession, the cutbacks are seen as the root cause of deepening poverty, skyrocketing joblessness and growing popular resentment with many believing Greece "is a step away" from revolt.

Police said they were braced for potential unrest and had taken "appropriate measures" with helicopters flying over the capital and officers armed with cannisters of tear gas.

"We estimate that around 10,000 are out on the streets in different areas of Attiiki [the greater Athens region]," said police spokesman Thanassis Kokkalakis. "Our hope is that they will go home soon."

Unionist officials, though, claimed police had "wildly underestimated" the turnout. Tania Karayiannis of ADEDY, the union of civil servant employees, said:

On this day the main message of all of us who have been hit by these measures is that these policies have to be overturned....The unemployed, pensioners, wage-earners who have suffered cuts don't care about a change in government, they care about the change in policy. It's as simple as that.

11.31am: The latest polling data from France should please Evangelos Venizelos. With five days to go until Sunday's presidential election, François Hollande holds a clear lead over Nicolas Sarkozy -- by 54% to 46%.

As reported at 8.26am, Venizelos has offered strong backing to his fellow socialist leader.

11.12am: For decades, May Day has been an important event in the calendars of unions across Europe. Traditionally, International Labour Day has been a chance for the workers to celebrate hard-won labour rights, and remind the hated boss class of their muscle (and in some cases, their very existance).

Protests are taking place today across Europe and in Asia, while the Occupy movement is planning protests across America later. The motivations of the various groups vary, reflecting changes since the financial crisis began.

Protesters burn an effigy of Philippine President Benigno Aquino III during a rally near the Presidential Palace in Manila to celebrate international Labor Day known as May Day Tuesday May 1, 2012 in the Philippines. Photograph: Bullit Marquez/AP

In the Philippines, workers marched today to demand wage increases and an end to rising fuel prices. But in Europe the protests are aimed at the eurozone's austerity drive, while Occupy is targeting the financial sector, and the mistakes and misdeeds that caused the crisis.

Louise Cooper of BGC Partners argues that today's May Day protests shine a light on the ideological battle at the heart of the financial crisis:

May Day is more relevant than it has been for decades because it symbolises the struggle between providers of capital (the rich industrialists of the past whose fortunes were made out of the misery of the many) and the providers of labour (the factory workers, the children enslaved by low wages).

Currently though it is a battle between those who blame the crisis on the providers of capital – the banking and financial industry and unfettered capitalism – and those who blame Europe's bloated and unaffordable welfare state – which benefits the providers of labour, the workers. This ideological argument goes to the heart of this current economic and political crisis and is exactly what May Day is all about – the struggle between providers of capital and providers of labour.