The sun shines down on Berlin today on this one of her finest days May 1st known internationally as Labour Day, International Workers Day or Tag der Arbeit (Day of Labour) here in Germany.
For those of you who are unaware May 1st is a traditional Socialist workers day of protests that now takes place in 80 countries worldwide. The days origins stem from the Haymarket Affair of 1886 in Chicago where a peaceful workers protest for an 8 hour working day turned violent after a bomb was thrown at police leading the police to open fire resulting in deaths to both the police and the protesters.
Here in Germany May 1st was put onto the holiday calendar in 1933 by the National Socialists (Nazi) government where celebrations were organised by the government themselves. Obviously May 1st as we know it today has changed quiet dramatically from the Nazi organised celebrations.
After WWII May 1st celebrations existed on both sides of the Berlin Wall. On the eastern side, state organised celebrations took place where attendance was not really an option, it was required. Over in the West is truly where May 1st of today has its origins.
During the 80′s May 1st became associated with riots and battles between the police and the people mainly from the left and from autonomous communities. The tension exploded on May 1st 1987 where Kreuzberg descended into a hell hole of riots, looting and fighting, which left the suburb in flames. From this a weird tradition of rioting has occurred most years since then.
Over the last few years violence has been lowered quite dramatically, but there is still that possibility it does get out of control once again. These days most of the celebration still centers around Kreuzberg where many roads are closed off and thousands gather to party in the MyFest party grounds around Kottbusser Tor.
MyFest @ Kreuzberg- In one of the biggest parties Berlin has to offer, the streets of Kreuzberg get turned into a massive party ground where around 20 stages of varying types of music are played. The streets are filled with people who come for the music and stay for the amazing assortment of food available on the streets that is mainly provided by many of the Turkish locals.
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