Thousands of trade union activists mark May Day in Belfast

Thousands of trade union activists marched through the streets of Belfast on Saturday to mark the annual May Day rally highlighting workers’ struggles around the world.

Belfast Lord Mayor Arder Carson welcomed guests and participants to the event, and a series of speeches blasting government cutbacks and austerity were made by trade union leaders.

As the rain fell, the parade - organised by the Northern Ireland Committee of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions - started in Donegall Street, before snaking through the city centre.

Organisers of the rally said the trade union movement would resist austerity and the North’s 18 Westminster MPs, who will be elected on May 7th, were urged to do the same.

A statement said: “This year’s message is resistance to the austerity programme of the outgoing Westminster government, and the determination of the trade union movement to ensure that the failed experiment in heaping the cuts and the blame on working people and the most vulnerable will not be supported by any of the eighteen MPs to be elected on Thursday by the people of Northern Ireland.”

Unions represented in the parade, marching "for a better, fairer way", included Unison, Nipsa, GMB, Siptu and the NUJ. A similar event was held in Derry.