13 May, 2017
Turkish police on Monday used tear gas and plastic bullets to disperse protesters seeking to defy a ban and march to Istanbul's Taksim square to celebrate May Day, an AFP journalist reported.
Protests for May Day, the global workers' holiday, are an annual occurrence in Turkey and have in the past been characterised by widespread police actions against demonstrators.
May Day rallies in Tukey's most populous city descended into clashes with the police, as several activist groups tried to get into cordoned-off areas of the city.
Some protesters in Istanbul hurled Molotov cocktails and fireworks at the police forces, who detained over 200 protesters.
A similar statement by the İstanbul Governor's Office said that riot police detained at least 207 people during the celebrations throughout Sunday.
Turkish police took tight security measures ahead of the May Day celebrations in various parts of Istanbul including Mecidiyekoy and Taksim Square.
That is when, in 1977, dozens of people were either shot or trampled to death when unknown gunmen opened fire in the square.
The square was reopened for celebrations in the late 2000s but was shut again in 2013.
Major labor unions such as the Confederation of Revolutionary Workers' Unions (DİSK), the Confederation of Public Sector Trade Unions (KESK) and the Turkish Union of Engineers and Architects' Chambers (TMMOB) gathered in the public bazaar in İstanbul's Bakırköy neighborhood to mark May Day. The southeastern European country also has the highest unemployment rate - 23 percent - in the European Union (EU). Reports say that at least three police officers sustained injuries in the clashes.
This year police were blocking all the roads to the square with iron barriers and deploying over 30,000 personnel to patrol the city.
The march was held a week before holding the decisive second round of France's presidential election.
In the Philippines' capital city of Manila, hundreds of activists clashed with riot police as they tried to force their way to the United States embassy as part of their May Day demonstrations on Monday.
Cambodia was also the scene of protests, with garment workers gathering at a blocked street near the National Assembly in the capital, Phnom Penh.
