While it might have slipped your notice, today was a holiday in most of the world as it celebrates May-Day. In Europe, The Economist notes [6], this day typically 'belongs' to 'international workers' of the world, and has been associated with left-wing anti-government protest. This year even more so as extreme political parties are on the rise and austerity seems to have no end in sight - but most of all because of the broad-based high-levels of unemployment. Outside of Greece (and perhaps the UK), violent confrontations have so far been rare in the wake of the financial crisis but tensions are mounting (notably in Spain) and as the following graphic shows - with Spain now the 12th nation in Europe to fall into recession - the dramatically bad changes in unemployment and GDP since the crisis began (especially among the youth) suggest more angst is to come as the political compact is pushed to its limits.
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Chart: The Economist [6]