Live: May Day demonstrations beneath the signal of battle within the Middle East | EUROtoday

Sébastien Lecornu in Haute-Loire assembly bakers and artisans

Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu goes to Haute-Loire this Friday, May 1, to fulfill artisans and bakers, in the midst of a debate on the opening of native companies on this Labor Day public vacation.

The head of presidency is predicted on the finish of the morning on this division, the place he will probably be welcomed by Laurent Wauquiez, deputy of the division and president of the Les Républicains (LR) group within the National Assembly. He will then go to a bakery to talk with the workers and their boss, introduced Matignon.

The go to of Sébastien Lecornu, who can also be attributable to have lunch with artisans from Haute-Loire, echoes that of Gabriel Attal, the chief of the Macronist Renaissance social gathering, who additionally goes to a bakery in his constituency of Vanves (Hauts-de-Seine) on the finish of the morning.

In Türkiye, a number of dozen arrests in Istanbul for May 1

Several dozen demonstrators gathered for May Day celebrations in Istanbul have been arrested Friday morning by Turkish police, AFP journalists famous.

Two teams particularly have been focused in two separate neighborhoods on the European facet as they confirmed their need to go in direction of the emblematic Taksim Square, a hotbed of protest in Turkey and fully locked down for the reason that evening.

(Turkish police arrest a protester throughout a rally organized to mark May Day, in Istanbul, May 1, 2026. Credit: Berk Ozkan, AFP)

📸 In Indonesia, in South Korea… Images of the May 1 demonstrations in Asia

(Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto delivers a speech to 1000’s of employees in the course of the Labor Day rally on the National Monument (Monas) in Jakarta, May 1, 2026. Credit: Bay Ismoyo, AFP)

(Workers participate in a rally to mark International Workers’ Day in Banda Aceh, May 1, 2026. Credit: Chaideer Mahyuddin, AFP)



(Labor teams and activists chant slogans throughout a Labor Day rally in Seoul on May 1, 2026, to demand higher working circumstances and extra rights. Credit: Jung Yeon-je, AFP)

CFDT and CGT underline the urgency of accelerating wages

The leaders of the CFDT and the CGT demanded wage will increase on Friday within the face of the return of inflation, whereas defending the non-working and public vacation nature of May 1st.

The common secretary of the CGT Sophie Binet requires a freeze on gasoline costs, a 5% improve within the minimal wage and the restoration of the indexation of salaries to costs, in addition to a rise in pensions and social minimums, in a letter addressed to Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu and obtained by AFP.

“The minimum wage must be increased because there is inflation today,” estimated at greater than 2%, declared CFDT chief Marylise Léon on France Info.

May 1st, an “important symbol, that of a public holiday which is not like the others”

Like yearly, unions are mobilizing on May 1st. Guest of Franceinfo, Marylise Léon, common secretary of the CFDT, speaks of an “important symbol, that of a public holiday which is not like the others”.

The query of companies open on May 1st on the focus

The unions need to defend of their processions this solely obligatory public vacation for workers.

The authorities rejected a invoice proposed particularly by former Prime Minister Gabriel Attal which offered for the potential for using workers on May 1 in meals retailers, florists and cultural institutions.

The authorities has refocused this chance solely on artisan bakers and florists, topic to agreements in these branches, with a invoice which ought to come into drive earlier than May 1, 2027. The 5 consultant union confederations (CFDT, CGT, FO, CFE-CGC and CFTC) are additionally against this invoice, fearing that it’ll open the way in which to future enlargements.

Demonstrations deliberate all through France

Paris clearly, but in addition Nantes, Brest, Toulouse, Grenoble, Strasbourg, Lyon… Some 320 gatherings are organized all through France, on the event of May 1st. In the capital, the parade will go away from Place de la République at 2 p.m., heading in direction of Place de la Nation.

Hello everybody,

Welcome to this reside broadcast devoted to the May 1st demonstrations.