Traditional May Day celebrations to recognize the achievements of organized labor turned violent in some cities Friday, May 1st, 2009 - as workers decried government efforts to deal with the economic downturn.

Tens of thousands of government supporters and opponents are demonstrating across Russia in rallies marking May Day. The traditional holiday celebrating labor is colored by growing unemployment amid Russia's worst economic crisis in a decade.

Several thousand Communists marched through Moscow and called for the government's resignation. They sang verses praising Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin and criticizing the current leadership.

Friday's largest rallies were held by Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's United Russia party and government-linked trade unions. Demonstrators expressed concern about the economy but support for the government. Media reports said police detained several dozen radical leftists in Moscow and St. Petersburg.

Japan's Trade Union Confederation held its 80th annual May Day rally in a Tokyo Park drawing nearly 36,000 regular and temporary workers, the Japan Times reports.

In London, May Day protesters targeted the Bank of England in scenes reminiscent of the G20 protests, politics.co.uk reported.

France's eight major labor unions were marching together for the first time to mark May Day. Leftist political parties also planned to march with the unions in a show of solidarity. Organizers hoped more than 1 million people would turn out in some 280 demonstrations across France.

That is the figure unions achieved March 19, when, according to French police, 1.2 million demonstrators turned out to pressure the government to do more to combat the economic crisis.

Demonstrators were calling for similar action Friday, expressing anger over government reform policies and recent layoffs.

In Berlin, demonstrators clashed with police. Bottles and stones were thrown at police, passing cars and trams, and rubbish bins were set alight. The unrest began when some 200 protesters began chanting anti-capitalism slogans after a street party ended in the early hours. Twenty-nine police were injured, and at least 12 people were arrested.

Turkey declared May 1 - also known as International Workers' Day - a public holiday, but police in Istanbul were forced to use water cannon and pepper spray to disperse demonstrators, who were forbidden to march in the city's main square.

In the Philippines, workers demanded more job protection and a stimulus package targeting housing, education and health care.

Hundreds of thousands of Cubans marched for blocks in Havana as part of the nation's yearlong celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Communist Revolution. President Raul Castro was on hand for the mostly political celebration.

Greek police fired tear gas against May Day demonstrators who burnt at least one car in the streets of central Athens on Friday. In Greece a police official said "It's a group of 300 people at the Athens Polytechnic,". The clashes with self-styled anarchists came after more than 6,000 people marched peacefully in the Greek capital in the traditional May Day rallies. There were no injuries or arrests. More than 4,000 police officers were deployed in central Athens to prevent violence. Greece saw its worst riots in decades in December, fuelled by discontent with a slowing economy and high youth unemployment.

"We won't pay for their crisis," read banners at the central rally held earlier today by the country's main trade union GSEE, which represents about 2 million employees. Unemployment is rising for the first time since 2004 in Greece as the economy grinds to a halt and may even contract in 2009 for the first time in 15 years, according to the IMF.

Palestinian workers took part in a protest against the lack of employment opportunities in Gaza City April 30, 2009, a day before the world marks Labour Day.

This news article is partly gathered from CNN, UPI, Reuters, and LATimes - May 1st, 2009