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a30 feature
Saturday 2 May 2020
Virus worries haunt workers demanding rights on May Day

By ELENA BECATOROS, In-Laws Cajun Specialties
ANGELA CHARLTON and in the town of Iowa, Louisi-
ELAINE KURTENBACH ana, said outdoor seating
Associated Press will be nice for truck drivers,
ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Mil- who will no longer have to
lions of workers worldwide eat in their rigs.
marked international la- Lacey Ward, an Omaha
bor day on Friday trapped hairstylist, said she is wor-
between hunger and ried that the Nebraska gov-
fear — struggling without ernor's decision to let salons
jobs or worried they don't reopen on May 4 could put
have enough protections her and her family at risk.
against the coronavirus as She would prefer to collect
more countries and states unemployment until the
reopen for business. danger subsides.
Beijing's Forbidden City, the "I feel like we are literally
imperial palace turned mu- the guinea pigs in this situa-
seum that is one of China's tion," she said.
biggest tourist attractions, May Day is a state holiday
started welcoming visitors in many countries, but lock-
again, and Bangladesh be- downs mean this is the first
gan reopening factories, as time that Russia — whose
world leaders try to salvage prime minister has the virus
their battered economies A workers Union delegate, wearing a face mask to help protect against the spread of the new — will not hold mass dem-
without causing a resur- coronavirus, applauds during an event marking May Day in Lisbon, Friday, May 1, 2020. onstrations on Red Square.
Associated Press.
gence of the virus that has In Turkey, police and pro-
killed over 230,000 world- exact positions for the pro- testers wearing masks
wide. testers. faced off in Istanbul, and
With traditional May Day Greeks who work by mak- 15 people were detained
labor marches curtailed by ing deliveries staged a for defying confinement
strict limits on public gath- motorized protest, driving rules.In the Czech Repub-
erings, Turkish protesters through Athens on their lic, people honked horns,
attempted to stage an un- motorbikes, and police played drums or shouted at
authorized demonstration. were out in force to ensure midday in a special "noisy
California activists planned residents didn't head from protest" over the govern-
strikes, and Parisians sang cities to the countryside, ment's handling of the crisis.
from balconies to plead another May Day tradition. Some Paris residents defied
their causes: workplace "We are praying for all home confinement rules
masks, health insurance workers, so that no one will to hold unauthorized pro-
and more government aid lack work and all will be tests. Others staged a mid-
for the jobless. fairly paid and can enjoy An activist carries the Spanish message "Amid hunger there is no day musical protest against
It was a melancholy Inter- the dignity of work and the quarantine" during a protest marking May Day, or International French President Emmanu-
national Workers' Day for beauty of rest," Pope Fran- Workers' Day, amid a government-ordered lockdown to curb el Macron's handling of the
garment workers across cis said at a private morn- the spread of the new coronavirus in Buenos Aires, Argentina, pandemic, singing from
Southeast Asia such as ing Mass. Friday, May 1, 2020. Associated Press. balconies and windows.
Wiryono, a father of two In Spain, a huge field hos- A holiday atmosphere
in Indonesia's capital, Ja- pital that symbolized the pression of the 1930s. ver and some surround- enlivened South Africa's
karta, who was laid off last country's desperate battle Essential workers were ex- ing counties. Wyoming streets, as May Day was
month as retailers slashed against the virus held a cer- pected to strike around the allowed barbershops, nail also when the country be-
orders. His side gig deliver- emonial closing. Dozens U.S. on Friday to demand salons, gyms and daycare gan easing its strict lock-
ing coffee dried up, too, of health workers shouted safer conditions, while oth- centers to reopen. down. People were permit-
amid a virus lockdown. So "Public Health!" and "We er groups organized rallies Louisiana restaurants add- ted to walk outside for ex-
he set up a clothing re- Want Tests!" to protest stay-at-home or- ed open-air tables 10 feet ercise, and some returned
pair business to make ends Nearly 40,000 Spanish ders they say are crippling apart after getting the go- to work.
meet. health workers have con- the economy. The nation's ahead to seat people out- The country where the
"I don't earn as much as I tracted the virus, in part be- death toll was put at more side only, though without coronavirus first erupted
got from the clothing fac- cause of a scarcity of tests than 60,000. waiter service. In Maine, also continued opening up
tory. But I have to feed my and protective clothing Governors are weighing golf courses, hairdressers again: All tickets for China's
wife and kids every day," that forced many doctors just how far they should and dentists opened. majestic Forbidden City
said Wiryono, who goes by and nurses to make suits go in easing stay-at-home In Mandeville, outside New were sold out for the May
only one name. out of garbage bags and orders. In the hardest-hit Orleans, the Chinese res- 1-5 holiday, though atten-
A government-ordered other everyday products. corner of the U.S., New York taurant Trey Yuen moved dance was limited to 5,000
lockdown couldn't extin- May Day labor protests Gov. Andrew Cuomo said a few tables from its dining visitors a day, down from
guish the May Day pro- started in the 19th cen- schools and colleges will room to near its koi pond the earlier maximum of
test spirit in Greece, where tury in the United States, remain closed through the and waterfall garden. "I 80,000.
demonstrators lined up where this week the num- rest of the academic year. know people want to get Visitor Bian Jiang reveled
2 meters (6 feet) apart in ber of Americans filing for In much of Colorado, peo- out of the house now, after at the chance to visit with-
careful rows in Athens' Syn- unemployment benefits ple could get their hair cut being cooped up. It'll be a out huge crowds and said,
tagma Square. Organizers surpassed a staggering 30 and shop at stores again safe way to do it. I hope," "When walking in some ar-
in masks and gloves used million — and joblessness in beginning Friday, though manager Mandy Perrilloux eas without others around,
tape measures and large April could hit numbers not stay-at-home orders re- said. I felt like I'm getting back to
colored squares to set out seen since the Great De- mained in place in Den- Jenna Kramer, owner of history."q