BERLIN (AP) -- Left-wing groups and trade unions are staging rallies across Europe, the Middle East and Asia on Friday to mark International Workers Day. Most events are expected to be peaceful protests for workers' rights and world peace. But May 1 regularly sees clashes between police and militant groups in some cities. International Workers Day originates in the United States. American unions first called for the introduction of an eight-hour working day in the second half of the 19th century. A general strike was declared to press these demands, starting May 1, 1886. The idea spread to other countries and since then workers around the world have held protests on May 1 every year, although the U.S. celebrates Labor Day on the first Monday in September. Here's a look at some of the May Day events around the world: TURKEY Police and May Day demonstrators clashed in Istanbul as crowds determined to defy a government ban tried to march to the city's iconic Taksim Square. Security forces pushed back demonstrators using water cannons and tear gas. Protesters retaliated by throwing stones and hurling firecrackers at police. An elderly man lies on the ground near a row of riot police after Turkish police use a water cannon to disperse protestors during a May Day rally near Taksim Square in Istanbul on May 1, 2015. (BULENT KILIC/AFP/Getty Images) Authorities have blocked the square that is symbolic as the center of protests in which 34 people were killed in 1977. Turkish newswires say that 10,000 police officers were stationed around the square Friday. Protesters run and protect themselves as riot police use a water cannon against them during a May Day rally near Taksim Square in Istanbul on May 1, 2015. (OZAN KOSE/AFP/Getty Images) The demonstrations are the first large-scale protests since the government passed a security bill this year giving police expanded powers to crack down on protesters. SOUTH KOREA Thousands of people marched in the capital Seoul on Friday for a third week to protest government labor policies and the handling of a ferry disaster that killed more than 300 people a year ago. South Korean workers shout slogans with red banners reading 'Let's terminate Park Geun-Hye (government)' during a May Day rally in Seoul on May 1, 2015. (JUNG YEON-JE/AFP/Getty Images) Demonstrators occupied several downtown streets and sporadically clashed with police officers. Protesters tried to move buses used to block their progress. Police responded by spraying tear gas. There were no immediate reports of injuries. South Korean riot police use fire extinguishers from their bus to stop protestors who tried to force their way through barricades during a May Day march toward the presidential house in Seoul on May 1, 2015. (JUNG YEON-JE/AFP/Getty Images) South Korean labor groups have been denouncing a series of government policies they believe will reduce wages, job security and retirement benefits for state employees. PHILIPPINES More than 10,000 workers and activists marched in Manila and burned an effigy of Philippine President Benigno Aquino III to protest low wages and a law allowing employers to hire laborers for less than six months to avoid giving benefits received by regular workers. Protesters march during a May Day rally to the presidential palace in Manila on May 1, 2015. (JAY DIRECTO/AFP/Getty Images) Workers in metropolitan Manila now receive 481 pesos ($10.80) in daily minimum wage after a 15 peso ($0.34) increase in March. Although it is the highest rate in the country, it is still "a far cry from being decent," says Lito Ustarez, vice chairman of the left-wing May One Movement. GREECE In financially struggling Greece, an estimated 13,000 people took part in three separate May Day marches in Athens, carrying banners and shouting anti-austerity slogans. Minor clashes broke out at the end of the peaceful marches, when a handful of hooded youths threw a petrol bomb at riot police. No injuries or arrests were reported. A protester supporting the Greek Communist party shouts slogans during a May Day rally in Athens, Greece, May 1, 2015. (AP Photo/Yorgos Karahalis) Earlier, ministers from the governing radical left Syriza party joined protesters gathering for the marches, including Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis -- who was mobbed by media and admirers -- and the ministers of labor and energy. Greece's Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis walks in a central street during a May Day rally in Athens, May 1, 2015. (AP Photo/Yorgos Karahalis) In the northern city of Thessaloniki, police said another 13,000 people took part in three separate, peaceful marches. GERMANY Police in Berlin say the traditional 'Walpurgis Night' protest marking the eve of May 1 was calmer than previous years. Several thousand people took part in anti-capitalist street parties in the north of the city. Fireworks and stones were thrown at police, injuring one officer. Fifteen people were detained. Elsewhere in the German capital revelers partied "extremely peacefully," police noted on Friday morning. Demonstrators light flares at a leftist rally during the traditional Walpurgis Night in Berlin, April 30, 2015. (Britta Pedersen/dpa via AP) At noon, Green Party activists unveiled a statue at Alexanderplatz in central Berlin of Edward Snowden, Julian Assange and Chelsea Manning, considered heroes by many on the left for leaking secret U.S. intelligence and military documents. The statue, called "Anything to say," depicts the three standing on chairs and is scheduled to go on tour around the world, according to the project's website. A girl addresses the crowd next to a life size bronze sculpture featuring (L-R) former National Security Agency (NSA) contractor and whistleblower Edward Snowden, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange and former US soldier Chelsea Manning convicted of violations of the Espionage Act, on May 1, 2015 at Alexanderplatz square in Berlin. (TOBIAS SCHWARZ/AFP/Getty Images) In the central German city of Weimar far-right extremists attacked a union event. Police said 15 people were injured and 29 were arrested. RUSSIA In Moscow, tens of thousands of workers braved chilly rain to march across Red Square. Instead of the red flags with the Communist hammer and sickle used in Soviet times, they waved the blue flags of the dominant Kremlin party and the Russian tricolor. Russian Trade Unions' members parade on the Red Square in Moscow on May 1, 2015, during their May Day demonstration. (KIRILL KUDRYAVTSEV/AFP/Getty Images) Despite an economic crisis that is squeezing the working class, there was little if any criticism of President Vladimir Putin or his government. A Russian Trade Unions' member wears a vest featuring Russian President Vladimir Putin during the May Day demonstration on the Red Square in Moscow on May 1, 2015. (KIRILL KUDRYAVTSEV/AFP/Getty Images) Participants said the May 1 march was a tradition going back to their childhood. This Soviet nostalgia was imbued with feelings of patriotism in the run-up to the 70th anniversary of victory in World War II on May 9. Communists carry a portrait of former Soviet leader Josef Stalin as they march along Kremlin Towers during a May Day demonstration in Moscow, May 1, 2015. (AP Photo/Denis Tyrin) The Communist Party later held a separate march under the slogan "against fascism and in support of Donbass," with participants calling for greater support for the separatists fighting the Ukrainian army in the Donbass region of eastern Ukraine. CUBA Thousands of people were converging on Havana's Plaza of the Revolution for the traditional march, led this year by President Raul Castro and Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. After attending Cuba's celebration, Maduro was to fly back to Caracas to attend the May Day observances in his own country. Cubans participate in the May Day celebrations, on May 1, 2015 in Havana. (ADALBERTO ROQUE/AFP/Getty Images) Additional marches were planned in major cities around Cuba, including Santiago and Holguin in the east. Cubans participate in the May Day celebrations, on May 1, 2015 in Havana. 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