In pictures: Middle East celebrates International Workers Day

Thousands gathered in the Istanbul district of Bakirkoy to celebrate International Workers Day on Wednesday, where they were greeted by recently elected Mayor of Istanbul Ekrem Imamoglu. Imamoglu, a member of the secular-nationalist Republican People's Party, upended 25 years of rule by the governing Justice and Development party when he was elected on 31 March (Kemal Aslan/Reuters)

Although the Istanbul governorate once again blocked off access to Taksim Square, protesters still attempted to enter the iconic location, leading to around 127 arrests. The square has been blocked from mass assembly since 2013 when protests over redevelopment in nearby Gezi Park led to country-wide demonstrations (Bulent Kilic/AFP)

A demonstrator carries a Communist Party flag through an underpass at the end of rally in Istanbul. Leftist activists commemorated the Taksim Square massacre of 1977, when as many as 42 people were killed by gunfire. The perpetrators were never brought to justice (Bulent Kilic/AFP)

Algerians took the opportunity of May Day to reiterate their demand that senior memebers of recently resigned President Abdelaziz Bouteflika follow him by stepping down. Bouteflika announced he would be stepping down on 4 April in response to huge protests across the country against his 20-year rule (Ramzi Boudina/Reuters)

Hundreds rallied outside the General Workers’ Union in Algiers, clutching flags and chanting against the establishment. Police prevented them from joining other protesters gathered outside the city’s iconic post office, the focal point of demonstrations which began in February and have regularly drawn vast crowds (Ramzi Boudina/Reuters)

May Day in Iraq is heavily dominated by the Iraqi Communist Party. Once one of the most powerful communist parties in the Middle East in the 1960's, successive coups and finally fierce suppression by Saddam Hussein have left them a shadow of their former glory, and they now sit in parliament as part of an alliance with Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr (Ahmad al-Rubaye/AFP)

Iraqi President Barham Salih, giving a statement on International Workers Day, called on Iraqi workers to asist in the reconstruction of the country following the victory over the Islamic State group. However, rampant unemployment, corruption and failing public services have made observers anxious about the possibility of severe unrest during a looming hot summer (Ahmad al-Rubaye/AFP)