HORDES of largely left-wing political groups paraded the streets of Stroud clad in red to show solidarity with working people world-wide.

Members and supporters of political groups including the Labour Party, the Socialist Party and the Communist Party marched to mark International Workers' Day on Saturday, April 30.

Also known as Labour Day, IWD is a celebration of labourers and the working classes that is promoted by the international labour movement, anarchists, socialists, and communists and occurs every year on May Day, May 1, an ancient European spring holiday.

Crowds met at the Sub Rooms to listen to the Songs of Change choir perform the Billy Bragg version of Internationale and We Shall Overcome, a protest song that became a key anthem of the Civil Rights Movement in America.

The procession then moved through town to the beats of a Samba band from Stonehouse finishing at The Old Town Hall for lunch.

Guest speakers at the sit-down meal, British Labour politician Baroness Royall and Nick Ireland of the Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers, both gave speeches urging voters to remain in the EU which they argued would ensure better workers rights.