Thousands mark May Day at iconic Istanbul square

Thousands of workers gathered on an iconic square in the heart of Turkey's biggest city Istanbul Sunday to celebrate May Day at the site where dozens were killed at a rally 34 years ago
Waving colourful flags, dancing and chanting, the crowds marched onto Taksim square, the hub of the sprawling city of almost 15 million people, for a rally organized by four trade union confederations.
About 38,000 police were deployed for the occasion, searching demonstrators before allowing them into the square, which had been equipped with giant digital screens and loudspeakers.
Snipers were positioned on buildings around the square.
Until May Day last year, Taksim square had been declared off-limits since the bloodshed during a 1977 May Day rally when gunmen, believed to be far-right militants aided by members of the intelligence services, fired on a peaceful crowd, killing 33 people and triggering mass panic.
The attackers were never caught.
The deaths came at a time of heightened political tensions and street violence between leftist and rightist militants in Turkey, which culminated in a military coup in 1980.
The government's decision reopen the square for May Day celebrations came after parliament reinstated the day as a national holiday in 2009.
In the years before that change, unionists trying to hold rallies on Taksim square in defiance of the ban were repulsed by police action that injured dozens and saw hundreds detained.
As Sunday's rally got underway, trade union leaders left red carnations on the spot where the crowd was fired on, urging authorities to shed light on the killings.

Turkey launches celebration to mark labor day

ISTANBUL, May 1 (Xinhua) -- Over 100,000 workers gathered in the center of Turkey's largest city Istanbul Sunday for a celebration for the International Workers' Day.
The arrangement of the Taksim square in central Istanbul for this year's labor day was designed the same way as the 1977 celebrations, with a stage set up on the south side of the square, where union leaders took to the stage and delivered speeches for workers' rights as hundreds of thousands of people assembled at the square, chanting slogans and holding up signs, which read "May 1 for labor, peace, freedom and democracy" and "Happy May 1st."
"The working class is the one that will change the world, its tool is Marxism," read a giant banner propped on the west side of the square.
At the intervals of the speeches, bands gave free performances on the stage for the assembled crowds.
Organizations and political parties such as the Revolutionary Worker's Unions Confederation (DISK), the Republican People's Party (CHP), the Democratic Left Party (DSP) and the Turkish Worker's Unions Confederation held marches Sunday morning from across the city towards the Taksim square.
About 38,000 police force were deployed in the main streets of Istanbul leading to the Taksim square to maintain the security.
Traffic to the square has been blocked since 7 a.m. as police barricaded the perimeter.
Celebrating worker's day in the Taksim square has become a matter of pride for Turkish unions, while the violence during the 1977 celebrations prompted the government to ban celebrations there until 2010.
Half a million of people gathered in the square in 1977 when unidentified assailants fired on the crowds, causing chaos that resulted in 34 deaths and 136 injuries.
Violence often broke out between workers trying to celebrate in the square and police trying to keep them out until 2010, when celebrations were allowed again.
Turkey has a total population of 74 million. The unemployment rate in the country was 11.9 percent in 2010.