Thousands across Europe to protest against austerity at May Day rallies

PanARMENIAN.Net - Thousands of workers across southern Europe will protest against spending cuts as part of annual May Day rallies on Tuesday, May 1 days before elections in Greece and France where voters are expected to punish leaders for austerity, Reuters reported.

Unions in Greece, Spain, Portugal and France will use traditional marches to express their anger over an austerity drive across the euro zone, aimed at shoring up public finances but criticized for forcing countries deeper into recession.

Greece's two major private and public sector unions GSEE and ADEDY marched in the capital Athens to mark the national holiday, while the Communist-affiliated PAME group was also holding a separate demonstration.

Greece will vote on Sunday in a parliamentary election that risks derailing an international bailout keeping the country afloat by punishing the parties that backed austerity.

"Our message will be stronger on Sunday," said Maria Drakaki, 45, a public sector worked for 22 years whose salary was cut to 780 euros ($1,000) a month. Many public sector wages have been cut by an average of 25 percent. "There's no way I'm voting for one of the two main parties on Sunday."

In France, President Nicolas Sarkozy will compete with trade unions to draw the biggest May Day crowd, hoping to steal the limelight from their annual street march before the second round of a presidential election on Sunday.

Socialist Francois Hollande, who is not taking part in the May 1 activities, looks set to beat Sarkozy, who has been in power throughout the euro zone debt crisis.

In Greece, police prepared for violence that has come to mark many rallies, though Athens has not seen major clashes since an unpopular austerity bill was approved in February.

In the capital Athens, buses and trains came to a standstill as transport workers staged a 24-hour strike, while Greek seamen held a four-hour stoppage.