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Montreal Anti-Capitalism Convergence rallied demonstrators across from Montreal’s city hall. The group planned to denounce corporate corruption and protest its way to the super fancy, super elite club—357c—the meeting spot that was popular among businessmen and politicians conspiring in the Quebec construction scandal. But police derailed the plan, arresting 447 protesters on the way to the club and slapping them each with a $637 fine for unlawful assembly. Most people were arrested for wearing hoodies, scarves, or masks—violating Quebec’s bylaw P-6.

Toronto The city hosted all your civil disobedience classics—rallies, speeches, drum circles, and of course, a mandatory dance segment. In Little Norway Park, protesters supported Porter Airlines employees striking for better pay and safer work conditions.

Outside Loblaw’s on Queen Street, the wrath of at least 1,200 protesters  forced Joe Fresh to shut down early on Wednesday. The company is recently black listed by labour activists for selling garments made in the Bangladesh factory that collapsed last week.

By May Day’s end, just three people were arrested for re-Occupying Alexandria Park, because what’s a protest without police doing their job, right?

Seattle What started as a peaceful demonstration for workers’ and immigration rights turned into a full-on violent feud. Police set off “flash bangs” and pepper sprayed the crowd after protesters pelted cops with rocks and bottles. Seventeen people were arrested. This is the second year in a row Seattle got aggressive on May Day. Last year, protesters smashed the Niketown and American Apparel storefronts. Check out the video of this year’s May Day bedlam.

Havana, Cuba photo: facebook.com/pages/MAY-DAY-Global

Hava Hundreds of thousands (just check out that photo!) of Cubans rallied in Revolution Square on Wednesday. Many people wore red and held posters of Hugo Chavez, paying tribute to the late Venezuelan leader, Cuba’s “best friend.”

Jakarta Tens of thousands demonstrated in Indonesia’s capital Wednesday. The country is in the midst of an economic boom, growing by about six percent annually. But low income workers aren’t seeing the evidence. Protesters in Jakarta demanded higher minimum wages—a promise the government keeps retracting. Right now, May Day isn’t officially a holiday in Indonesia, but President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono promised Wednesday that next year it will be. Meanwhile, Minister Dahlan Iskan joined in on the protest, who, by the way, is running for president in 2014—shall we say…politicking?

Dhaka In the Bangladesh city where a clothing factory collapsed last week, and estimated 10,000 protesters demanded the death penalty for the man who owned the building and for those who ran the factory. The Guardian posted this video of the demonstrations:

Istanbul Taksim Square, a massive pedestrian street in Turkey’s cultural capital, is a hub for protest on any given day. But activists of all causes banded together on Wednesday with not so peaceful results. Some busses and ferries were shut down to block more protesters from reaching the square and 22,000 police trolled the streets to maintain order. Check out this video and see how they did:

I guess this is the point when I should let you know a little bit about myself and my stance on the issue at hand. I have been living and going to school in New Brunswick for the past two years. I moved to Toronto from the quaint little town of Woodstock, NB, (pop. 5200) this past weekend.

During the Occupy movement last summer I felt disconnected. I heard and read numerous accounts of what was going on in all the major centres throughout the country, but I struggled to fully grasp the ideas or even the size of the movement.

What I did know was as the leaves began to change and the mercury slowly fell, there was no escape from the harsh Canadian winters. People backed up their tents, the media drifted away and no one seemed to care.

Today is being marked as the resurgence of the Occupy movement. Riding the coat tails of another international movement, International Workers Day or May Day (which is in support of migrant workers) the movement is hoping to let everyone know they’re back.

Now that I have a place to rest my head in the city, I believe I will be more connected, informed and potentially vocal about what is going on in our country. No longer will I feel trapped, isolated and disconnected in rural New Brunswick, because here in the big city, ideas and opinions can spread like wildfire and there are connections to be made.

So, in a few hours I will be heading down to my first protest to discover if this resurgence will truly take hold. For the sake of my blog (and the 99 percent) I hope it does…