It was a melancholy International Workers’ Day for garment workers across Southeast Asia such as Wiryono, a father of two in Indonesia’s capital, Jakarta, who was laid off last month as retailers slashed orders. His side gig delivering coffee dried up, too, amid a virus lockdown. So he set up a clothing repair business to make ends meet.

“I don’t earn as much as I got from the clothing factory. But I have to feed my wife and kids every day,” said Wiryono, who goes by only one name.

A government-ordered lockdown could not extinguish the May Day protest spirit in Greece, where demonstrators lined up two metres (six feet) apart in careful rows in Athens’ Syntagma Square. Organisers in masks and gloves used tape measures and large coloured squares to set out exact positions for the protesters.

US states start to reopen despite warnings of new coronavirus outbreaks

Greeks who work by making deliveries staged a motorised protest, driving through Athens on their motorbikes, and police were out in force to ensure residents did not head from cities to the countryside, another May Day tradition.

“We are praying for all workers, so that no one will lack work and all will be fairly paid and can enjoy the dignity of work and the beauty of rest,” Pope Francis said at a private morning Mass.

In Spain, a huge field hospital that symbolised the country’s desperate battle against the virus held a ceremonial closing. Dozens of health workers shouted “Public Health!” and “We Want Tests!”

Nearly 40,000 Spanish health workers have contracted the virus, in part because of a scarcity of tests and protective clothing that forced many doctors and nurses to make suits out of garbage bags and other everyday products.

May Day labour protests started in the 19th century in the United States, where this week the number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits surpassed a staggering 30 million – and joblessness in April could hit numbers not seen since the Great Depression of the 1930s.

Essential workers were expected to strike around the US on Friday to demand safer conditions, while other groups organised rallies to protest stay-at-home orders they say are crippling the economy. The nation’s death toll was put at more than 60,000.

Governors are weighing just how far they should go in easing stay-at-home orders. In the hardest-hit corner of the US, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said schools and colleges will remain closed through the rest of the academic year.

May Day is a state holiday in many countries, but lockdowns mean this is the first time that Russia – whose prime minister has the virus – will not hold mass demonstrations on Red Square.

Labour day: workers around the world defy Covid-19

In Turkey, police and protesters wearing masks faced off in Istanbul, and 15 people were detained for defying confinement rules.

In the Czech Republic, people honked horns, played drums or shouted at midday in a special “noisy protest” over the government’s handling of the crisis.

Some Paris residents defied home confinement rules to hold unauthorised protests. Others staged a midday musical protest against French President Emmanuel Macron’s handling of the pandemic, singing from balconies and windows.

A holiday atmosphere enlivened South Africa’s streets, as May Day was also when the country began easing its strict lockdown. People were permitted to walk outside for exercise, and some returned to work.

The country where the coronavirus first erupted also continued opening up again: all tickets for China’s majestic Forbidden City were sold out for the May 1-5 holiday, though attendance was limited to 5,000 visitors a day, down from the earlier maximum of 80,000.

Visitor Bian Jiang revelled at the chance to visit without huge crowds and said, “When walking in some areas without others around, I felt like I’m getting back to history.”