Isn't the war already over?

[jbooma]

I guess Europe doesn't watch CNN to much, what is wrong with these people? Your protesting now is doing more harm than good.

http://www.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/europe/05/01/europe.mayday/index.html

BERLIN, Germany (CNN) -- People at a Berlin rock concert fought with police as May Day began with violent confrontation ahead of protest marches across Europe.

Hundreds of masked youths smashed shop windows and overturned cars in the Prenzlauer Berg district of the city overnight into Thursday. Police said "rioters" threw stones and bottles at them.

They reported injuries to 29 officers -- one seriously -- and 97 arrests. There was no word on civilian injuries.

The concert was part of May Day celebrations which saw security stepped up in all the major European capitals as tens of thousands of peace and labor activists prepared to march.

Large demonstrations were expected Thursday in Berlin, Paris, Rome, London, Athens and Madrid with protests against the U.S.-led war against Iraq alongside traditional trade union demands for workers' rights.

In Berlin, 7,500 police backed by water cannons have been drafted into the Prenzlauer Berg and Kreuzberg districts which have seen rioting in the past.

CNN's Stephanie Halasz said another flashpoint in the German capital Thursday was a march by 890 neo-Nazis, escorted by 1,000 police. There were scuffles when they were confronted by leftist counter-demonstrators, she said.

As rain fell In London, police said they expected the number of marchers to be down on previous years.

About 4,000 officers are on duty and all police leave has been canceled as authorities try to avoid the attacks on businesses and mass arrests of previous years.

German riot police pause during clashes with youths in east Berlin.

Up to 60 companies were named in a protesters' hit list that was posted on the Internet this week.

In Paris, aside from the May Day rallies, unions plan three days of protests and strikes to halt what they say is a smash-and-grab raid on state pensions, civil servant jobs and other pillars of the public sector.

"It begins with marches and lilies of the valley," the weekly Journal du Dimanche said of the flowers sported by the left on the May 1 rallies. "After that, it's anyone's guess," it said.

In Athens, antiwar protests are planned outside the U.S. Embassy, while Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar's support for the war in Iraq is expected to draw large numbers to marches in Madrid.

Spain's two main trade unions are to march under the banner: "For peace, for work. No to war." A joint statement says their May 1 demonstrations will be "another rejection of those who are proud of having conducted an unjust and illegitimate war."

In a similar move, several political parties -- led by the Communists -- are marching in Moscow in favor of "freedom against the war and against exploitation by big business and the powers of control, particularly in Russia and the United States."

In the Prague, capital of the Czech Republic, protests have been organized by antiwar, anti-capitalist, anti-EU and pro-EU groups.

In Warsaw, Poland, the main left wing trades union OPZZ is boycotting the demonstrations for the first time since the collapse of communism in protest against rising unemployment and the cost of living.

May Day originated as "workers' day" in Europe -- similar to Labor day in the U.S. and Canada, held on the first Monday in September -- when in 1889 the International Socialist Congress designated May 1 as a day in support of workers.

In some countries, May Day subsequently came to be marked by parades and ceremonies noting the contributions of labor unions.

After World War II, in the Soviet Union and the Soviet-bloc countries of eastern Europe, May Day parades became important political and military observances -- notably the annual Soviet parade of troops, tanks and missiles in Red Square, Moscow.

After the fall of communism these shows of military strength became less important.