Berlin, May 1 (RHC) -- Workers throughout the world took to the streets on Monday to commemorate May 1st -- International Workers' Day. In contrast to celebrations in Cuba, where workers march to reaffirm their commitment to defend the gains of the Revolution, in many parts of the world, workers clashed with police as they demonstrated to demand their rights.

In Germany, an an estimated 10,000 people gathered in Berlin’s Kreuzberg district for a street protest, while more than 5,000 police officers were mobilized in case the event got out of hand later in the day, when demonstrations were planned.

Businesses in Puerto Rico were boarded up as the U.S. colony braced for a May Day strike organized by opponents of austerity measures amid a deep economic crisis. Dozens of people wearing black T-shirts blocked a main road in the capital of San Juan and marched toward the financial center.

Spain’s two major unions called for marches in over 70 cities under the slogan “No More Excuses.” The country's major trade unions on Monday demanded that Spain’s conservative government roll back its labor reforms that made it cheaper to fire workers and increase wages and pensions.

Thousands of garment industry workers in Bangladesh gathered to demand better wages and legal protection on International Workers' Day. About four million people are employed in the country’s garment industry, the second largest in the world. The industry, with about 4,000 factories, earns $25 billion a year from exports, mainly to the United States and Europe, but working conditions are described as horrible.

And in Cambodia, riot police watched as more than 1,000 garment workers defied a government ban on marching to deliver a petition to the National Assembly in Phnom Penh, demanding a higher minimum wage and better working conditions.