May Day protesters clashed with riot police in Germany, Turkey and Greece yesterday while thousands angry at the government's responses to the global financial crisis took to the streets in France and Spain.

Rising unemployment across Europe and beyond has added intensity to May Day marches as last year's market crash and banking meltdown rolls into the real economy.

There were early morning clashes in Germany and protests in Istanbul swiftly turned violent. Greek police clashed with self-styled anarchists. Demonstrations in France and Spain appeared largely peaceful.

Turkish riot police fired water cannon and tear gas, firing shots and pepper spray to disperse masked protesters. Young men hurled stones and Molotov cocktails, smashing bank and shop windows in side streets.

An Istanbul police spokesman said 68 demonstrators were detained and 11 police wounded. Leftists and Kurdish separatists regularly clash with police at demonstrations in Turkey and the May Day protest last year also turned violent.

Turkey's government had declared May Day, traditionally marked by rallies by labour unions, a public holiday this year under pressure from the unions.

"Those who are here are unemployed and need work," said Mehmet Guleryuz, a film director. "These are students who cannot pay tuition fees. Things are bad everywhere but it hits Turkey hard."

Almost one in three young people in Turkey is without a job and the government fears social unrest and increased ethnic tension because of the downturn. Labour unions, traditionally weak, have become increasingly vocal.

In Berlin and Hamburg, scattered violence erupted in the early hours of the May Day holiday injuring more than 50 riot police, authorities said.

Some 200 demonstrators chanting anti-capitalism slogans threw bottles and stones at riot police in Berlin, police said, torching five cars. Police also clashed with the leftists ahead of a far right rally.