Organized labor and immigration groups are staging dozens of May Day demonstrations in cities throughout the nation Monday, with many groups planning to voice criticism of President Donald J. Trump and his administration.
In Los Angeles, more than 100 groups, representing a wide range of issues, will march from MacArthur Park to Los Angeles City Hall. Organizers expect about 100,000 marchers and have been coordinating for months with police to ensure that the event is peaceful, according to organizers.
Tubas and trombones sound in protest down the Las Vegas Strip
So far, Jose Sotelo’s protest sign has held up through two marches. He said he will probably need it for a few more, because Donald Trump is still in the early days of his presidency.
“I’m pretty sure this won’t be the last one,” Sotelo said. “He isn’t mending the country; he’s dividing it.”
The sign, which read, “Respect My Existence Or Expect Resistance,” was in English. His wife, Ashleigh Pacheco, carried one in Spanish.
The couple were among thousands who marched down the Las Vegas Strip on Monday afternoon, joining the worldwide May Day marches. This one was largely organized by Culinary Workers Union Local 226, with 57,000 members who fill jobs at many of the large casinos on the Strip.
Dressed mostly in red, they marched along the right side of the road with the lane coned off so as to not close Las Vegas Boulevard to traffic.
The city didn’t stop for the protesters, who brought drums, trombones and tubas — sounding like a cross between a mariachi concert and a college football game. At outdoor patios along the Strip, people sipped happy-hour-priced drinks and watched the marchers stroll by.
Marching past the Mirage, Caesars Palace and then down Flamingo Boulevard, they met honks of support from cars along the busy streets. A large Teamsters truck sounded its horn — a bone-shattering honk that was more train that truck.
Sotelo, a 33-year-old algebra teacher in Las Vegas, said he needed to keep marching to let it be known that Trump’s polices on immigration, the economy — well, on everything — were unacceptable.
“He’s in over his head,” Sotelo said. “I don’t think he has the slightest idea on what he’s doing or how to do the job.”
May Day march in downtown L.A. comes to a close as protesters make way for commuters’ cars
Cars replaced protesters by rush hour Monday as downtown L.A.’s May Day march came to a conclusion with all but a few stragglers left on the grounds of City Hall.
About 15,000 people marched from MacArthur Park to Grand Park, next to City Hall, in support of labor and immigration causes. Nearby, outside the Los Angeles Police Department headquarters, a vocal group of counter-protesters demonstrated in support of President Trump.
After hours of verbal exchanges, the Trump supporters walked off toward the federal building with a small group of anti-fascist activists following and LAPD officers closely watching. But no conflict unfolded and the May Day activities ended with only two arrests.
LAPD officers removed their helmets as they assembled outside police headquarters and took a decidedly relaxed stance.
Earlier, LAPD Chief Charlie Beck stopped outside the department’s headquarters and surveyed the crowd standing at 1st and Spring Streets. The pro-Trump and anti-Trump demonstrators faced off, separated by yellow police tape and officers wearing helmets.
When asked how the day had unfolded, Beck said: “So far, so good.”
Beck said the LAPD anticipated that national issues would “impact” the day’s demonstrations, but said so far that had not materialized quite as expected. As he spoke, he turned to watch a smaller group of demonstrators march down 1st Street.
Though the crowd size was far less than expected, protesters said it was worth the effort.
Crecencio Bacilio of Boyle Heights shut down his fruit shop today so he could attend the march with his wife and three sons, ages 10, 8 and 5.
It was a difficult decision to lose a day’s business, but Bacilio said he’s felt beat-up and run-down since Trump took office.
His children ask if he’ll be deported; they panic when they see the news. On this day, he wanted to come out and feel a part of something bigger.
“This year, of all years, we need to be a part of this fight,” Bacilio said. “To let people know we are not criminals. We are hard workers and we are going to fight to the very end.”
‘The LAPD will never be a deportation force,’ Mayor Garcetti declares at May Day rally
At a May Day rally at Grand Park, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti addressed the masses with a message of unity and a vow to push back on President Trump.
“It matters less who’s in the White House,” he said. “It’s matters who’s in this house.”
The grandson of an immigrant from Mexico said that in Los Angeles, he wants everyone to feel welcome, no matter where they come from, who they love or how they worship.
Protestors cheered when he promised to protect immigrants without status.
“As long as I am mayor, the LAPD will never be a deportation force,” he said. “They will be your police officers.”
Trump supporter to May Day demonstrators: ‘They don’t assimilate, they infiltrate’
Carrying a large American flag, Marvin Bonilla stood in front a group of demonstrators and a rap group performing at Broadway and 1st Street on Monday afternoon.
He held up a sign, declaring, “They don’t assimilate, they infiltrate MAGA.”
Two demonstrators quickly approached him and an intense discussion erupted.
This wasn’t the first group to approach the 34-year-old South Central resident during the march.
He had been marching for three hours to support Trump.
“People are hostile towards me just because of my color,” Bonilla said. “They assume because I am brown I am supposed to hate. See I am educated. That’s the difference between me and my brothers and sisters out here.”
Bonilla was born in New Jersey and is of Guatemalan descent.
His family, he said, came here the right way: legally.
“I feel bad for my immigrant people,” he said. “They are my people. Then again, 100% of my family came here legally by airplane. We waited, we waited in line.”
Bonilla said he is a “new breed of Republican.”
He said he has a college degree and runs his own computer software business.
“The silent majority, we’re silent no more,” Bonilla said.
During the march, he said several people tried to have a “civilized conversation” with him, but it was mostly about them. When it came time for him to speak, he said, “they ain’t trying to hear it.”
“But that’s OK, it’s about me. It’s about this flag. It’s about America,” Bonilla said. “If you’re not with it, you’re going to lose.”
Police report turnout of about 15,000 for L.A.’s May Day marches
As of about 1:30 p.m., police were estimating that about 15,000 people participated in L.A.’s May Day marches—far fewer than than the 100,000 protestors that organizers claimed would come out Monday.
There have been two arrests — one for arson and another on suspicion of “throwing projectiles,” according to the Los Angeles Police Department.
Ron Gochez, organizer of May 1st General Strike and Rally, said organizers were hoping for more participation, but “we also understand the current climate of fear.”
“The fact that we didn’t get a 100,000 out here — that’s an indicator of fear,” said Gochez, who is a social justice educator at Unión del Barrio.
Still, Gochez said, the turnout isn’t one to scoff at.
“Anytime that 15,000 people on a work day decide to join a struggle in 85 degree heat, we are going to call it a victory,” Gochez said. “Our message is let’s organize for self defense, independently of who’s in the White House.”
Others said the low May Day turnout is a reflection of other problems in the community.
Elizabeth Cordova, 38, said she has attended most of the May Day marches. Never has she been to one that was so poorly attended, she said.
The low numbers show fear but also ignorance, Cordova said.
“To see not enough support from all our gente is kind of frustrating,” she said. “It’s kind of like embarrassing because this is our biggest chance to make a difference and to show the government we are not alone.”
Cordova, who came to the U.S. from Mexico City when she was 10, marched the rally route with her mother and husband.
“We are living in a time where politics has taken over our most basic rights,” she said. “And people are not aware and are not paying attention to what is going on.”
See scenes from May Day rallies held around the world
L.A. mayor: Hard work, compassion, equal justice at heart of May Day protests
Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti was scheduled to speak to thousands of May Day demonstrators outside City Hall on Monday afternoon.
Before his speech however, his office released this statement:
“We stand together today to send a very clear and strong message that Los Angeles will stand up against any attempt to scapegoat immigrants, break up families, and create a climate of fear that unsettles our communities and disrupts our economy,” the mayor said.
“Americans are taking to the streets of L.A. and cities across the country on May Day because we are uniting around a principle that speaks to who we are: working people who have built their lives in this country deserve protection, compassion, and equal justice.”
Demonstrator arrested on suspicion of arson after burning American flag outside L.A. federal building
One person was arrested on suspicion of arson after they burned a small American flag outside a downtown federal building, authorities said.
The person was escorted off by LAPD officers as groups of demonstrators crowded the area.
Trump supporters, May Day demonstrators face off
At the corner of Spring and 1st streets, about 150 President Trump supporters and self-described nationalists faced off with several hundred May Day protesters, exchanging insults as a line of helmeted LAPD officers kept them apart.
Holding signs that said said “Latinos for Trump,” and “ICE ICE baby and “Deport illegals,” the Trump supporters shouted “America First.”
“We have the right to speak our minds,” an African American man with a U.S. flag yelled into a megaphone. “I have the right to protect my family. You cannot take away my guns.”
May Day protesters yelled back “Sieg Heil” and hoisted signs that read “If Trump builds a wall, we will tear it down!”
“I am a constitutionalist. I fight for free speech. I would fight for everyone’s right to free speech, even the people over there,” said Ed Baker, 53, of Antelope Valley. As Baker spoke, he gestured toward the May Day protesters.
“They want to call us fascists and Nazis. We have every race and religion represented and they are here to fight for free speech.”
‘Make sure Trump hears you!’ demonstrators shout
As men dressed in business suits looked on from downtown skyscrapers, 9-year-old Valeria Torres wiped sweat from her forehead and led her family down Grand Avenue.
“I’m here to learn about my rights,” she said, carrying a sign she made last night. It read: “What is our future?”
Three other cousins, all under age 11, joined her, along with her uncle, aunt and grandmother.
The children’s parents went to work, but they thought it was important for the kids to be here and represent immigrants, even if it meant missing school, said their aunt, Zitlali Mendoza.
“We want them to take advantage of the opportunities they have and to help others who aren’t as lucky,” Mendoza said. “We want them to learn to express their opinion.”
Also attending the protest was Rodrigo Avila, who embraced his boyfriend under the hot sun and listened to a speaker onstage shout “Los Angeles! Make sure Trump hears you, Los Angeles!”
Avila, who owns a restaurant in Chino, said he gave his workers a day off to attend the march.
Back in the 1980s, the native of Mexico said, he was undocumented so he understood how worried many of his workers felt when President Trump took office.
“I felt their anxiety, their fear,” said Avila, 49.
Watch live: May Day protests in Los Angeles
Aid stations set up for dehydrated marchers
The Los Angeles Fire Department is handing out water to protesters and has set up aid stations along the route of the May Day march and at Grand Park, authorities said.
To prepare for Monday’s heat, the department has paramedics on hand to treat anyone suffering from dehydration or any other medical condition, said LAFD spokeswoman Margaret Stewart.
Temperatures had climbed to about 80 degrees by early Monday afternoon.
The signs of #MayDay
Here are a few of the May Day signs in L.A. and around the state.
In Northern California, one sign read, “The only ‘ICE’ I need is the one in my raspado”
These protesters in downtown L.A. filled an entire intersection to spell out “Immigration Reform Now!”
Others are focused on the future.
Watch: Trump supporters face off with May Day demonstrators in downtown L.A.
Donald Trump supporters and May Day demonstrators faced off in downtown Los Angeles across from the Los Angeles Police Dept.
Michael Linares, 38, and Ryan Jeffrey, 38, were on their way to join demonstrators at L.A. City Hall when they saw the crowd.
“It was like moths to a flame,” Jeffrey said. “They’re trolling this event so the story is about fighting.”
Trump supporter Penny Chaplan, 57, traveled from San Diego to protest the “silliness the Democrats are behind.”
“They don’t want to help us when we’re down on our luck,” she said. “This is our country. If you don’t like America, don’t come here.”
Michelle Alvarado, a 29-year-old Latina, said she was here to give a voice to those like her immigrant parents. But she said Trump supporters had turned the May Day event into a racial issue.
“We just want rights for people in this country.”
It’s that reason that Richard Rea, 45, says he’s uncomfortable to speak favorably about Trump when he’s not in settings like these.
“I’m Latino. This is the only place I can wear a Trump shirt.”
LAPD: ‘A win for them is a win for us’
As two groups of demonstrators — several hundred people in all — marched slowly down Broadway, LAPD Capt. Phil Smith and Lt. German Hurtado hung back in their black-and-white SUV, watching the crowd ahead of them.
So far the crowd was peaceful.
“This is exactly what we want,” Smith said a few minutes before noon.
A few officers accompanied the crowd, trailing the group on motorcycles or on bicycles.
Demonstrators had obtained a permit to march along Broadway, but Smith said officers were prepared to adapt should the crowd suddenly change its route.
The goal, Smith said, was to ensure that the crowd arrives safely at its destination: Grand Park.
“A win for them is a win for us,” Smith said.
‘We expect trouble today,’ says helmet-wearing pro-Trump demonstrator
Outside the federal building in downtown Los Angeles, about 150 Trump supporters and anti-communists gathered to march to police headquarters to face off with the leftist group, Anti-Fascist Action.
Los Angeles Police Department officers are waiting to keep the two sides separated.
As the Trump supporters gathered, they blasted the Vanilla Ice song “Ice Ice Baby” — a reference to federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement — to rile their opponents.
The group said Trump is trying to clean up America by getting rid of the “criminal illegals.”
“I am here to stand up for America,” said a man who identified himself as Johnny Cadillac, a U.S. army veteran. “I believe the Constitution and free speech and we are exercising our rights.”
“I am here to support President Trump as he is the leader of our great country,” said Cadillac, 61, who with his friends attended the rally wearing riot helmets. He added that he was involved in the recent UC Berkeley protest clashes.
“America is great,” said Joseph Turner, an activist wearing a baseball helmet. “I am here to show the commies they won’t walk unopposed. I don’t like the commies,” he said.
Turner is a part the activist group American Children First and said his son is a Marine.
“We expect trouble today,” he said.
Blessings, mariachi music set the mood for protesters at MacArthur Park
As a mariachi troupe played rancheras, dozens of people holding “Unite the Working Class” and “We can resist” banners gathered at Olympic Boulevard and Broadway for a massive May Day march.
Individual marchers received blessings before their trek, and organizers said they expected thousands of people to converge at the demonstration’s starting point. The group is expected to march to City Hall and Grand Park.
Among the demonstrators was Juan Jose Gutierrez, executive director of the One Stop Immigration and Education Center, who said there is an immigration crisis.
“The fact is that with the new administration, we’re facing a very, very bad situation,” he said.
Gutierrez said that “instead of talking of how the administration is going to fix our broken immigration system,” the Trump administration is separating communities and engaging in mass deportations.
“This is a time when our community is feeling incredible fear and anxiety,” he said. “We feel that it is important for our community stand up and defend its dignity and its human rights and its desire, as taxpayers, to have government hear their call for comprehensive immigration reform with a path to citizenship.”
The May Day marches are about unifying the frightened community, Gutierrez said. He said his office fields hundreds of calls from people afraid they will be deported.
“In this darkest hour, we know that although it’s a very bad moment for immigrants, it’s also a time for opportunity,” he said.
Trump supporters gather in Union Square
LAPD to gauge ‘emotion and energy’ of demonstrators
LAPD Deputy Chief Robert Arcos, who is overseeing the department’s handling of the May Day demonstration, said the crowds could be the largest the city has seen in a decade. He estimated that as many as a few hundred thousand people could attend.
Speaking from the LAPD’s command center, Arcos said that so far, as the crowds convene on MacArthur Park, his primary concern was the heat and how it might affect the marchers or officers. As the crowd begins to move, he said, his focus will change:
“Once they step off and march, then my concern is how is everybody getting along,” he said.
Arcos said officers were told at morning roll-call meetings to be mindful of the “emotion and energy” of the crowd and to keep an eye on the heat.
And, he said, they were reminded that they “don’t want to be the story.”
So far, Arcos said Monday morning, the day has gone smoothly. When asked if there was a point in the day when he would deem it a success, he smiled.
“Not until I’m home in bed,” he joked.
Oakland protesters arrested after entering county building, authorities say
A small “splinter-group” of May Day demonstrators in Oakland was arrested Monday for breaking into an Alameda County building and hanging a large banner protesting immigration enforcement, authorities said.
The four demonstrators were arrested on suspicion of trespassing when they entered the county administration building through a backdoor and “refused to cooperate” with sheriff’s officials before they hung a banner, according to Alameda County Sheriff’s Sgt. Ray Kelly.
Demonstrators from the larger group also chained themselves together outside, but have since moved on with the march, Kelly said.
“It’s a worldwide day of protest. That’s great as long as people are peaceful and nonviolent,” Kelly said.
Demonstrations in both San Francisco and the East Bay were mostly peaceful with no other reports of arrests, authorities said.
Immigrants rally in Atlanta: ‘Not one more deportation’
Not long after Aline Mello, a 28-year-old Brazilian immigrant and Dreamer, arrived at Atlanta’s City Hall for Monday’s May Day rally for immigrants, she texted her mom a photo of herself, huddling under a pink umbrella and holding up a sign saying, “We are HUMANS.”
“She didn’t want me to come,” she said of her mother, who was at work cleaning houses. “She’s scared. Many older immigrants just keep their heads down, but we want to make our voices heard.”
“We grew up here,” said her friend, Diana Chavez, as she nodded, an immigrant from Mexico who moved to the U.S. in 2000. “We belong here. It’s important to let people know we’re part of this nation and we work hard and pay taxes.”
Hundreds rallied under gloomy skies in downtown Atlanta, holding “ICE GET OUT” banners and “NOT ONE MORE DEPORTATION” placards, to protest recent arrests and deportations of immigrants and call on Atlanta officials to extend more protections to immigrants.
Like many, Mello and Chavez were motivated to protest President Trump’s immigration policies.
“I wasn’t that vocal until Trump started campaigning,” Mello, a DACA recipient who works as a magazine editor, admitted. “We can’t trust him.”
Outside City Hall, immigrant advocates linked up with a wide range of social justice groups fighting to raise the minimum wage, combat racism and sexism and protect LGBTQ communities.
‘’We want Atlanta to be a real sanctuary city, not just a welcoming city,” Carlos Medina, a volunteer with the Georgia Latino Alliance for Human Rights, told the crowd. “We want a fair salary: $15. We want the people to respect gender identity. And we want them to stop the deportations.”
After the rally, more than a hundred immigration and social justice advocates spilled into Atlanta’s City Council chamber to demand the city raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour and demand the city comply with Immigration and Customs Enforcement requests to detain immigrants only when they have a warrant.
“This is the most speakers we’ve ever had,” City Council president Caesar Mitchell informed the crowd to loud cheers.
For some families, May Day protests offer more important schooling than a classroom
Armed with a bullhorn and a poster, 12-year-old Joseph Moreno came to Monday’s march with a message to President Trump.
“If you build a wall, my generation will knock it down,” read the Huntington Park resident’s poster. He came to the march with his aunt.
Joseph said he is an aspiring politician, but this march is how he can make his voice heard now.
“If they mess with our community, if they mess with our culture, we will not stay silent,” Joseph said. “From students to adults, we will come out and speak out for what we believe in.”
Other families also brought their young ones to protest.
For Juan Becerra, 58, standing together as a family was more important than sending his children to school on Monday.
“It’s important to be here together,” Becerra said. “It’s like going to war. If you do it alone, you’ll die, but if we join the fight together, we have a stronger chance of winning.”
Becerra, who is in the country illegally with his wife and works as a street sweeper and cashier, said Trump’s constant attacks on Latinos motivated him to march.
“I want my kids in school because it’s good for them to be in school, but I feel they should be here because this [ Trump’s immigration policies] affects them too,” he said.
Becerra said his children -- 13-year-old Aver and 10-year-old Destiny -- are afraid that he and his wife, Rocio, will one day be deported.
“My daughter is so afraid she thinks she’ll get deported,” Becerra said. “And she was born here.”
Holding a U.S. flag, Destiny said she doesn’t want Trump to build a wall along the border with Mexico.
“Build bridges,” she said.
Jennifer Galvez, 34, who works for the Los Angeles Community College District, said she brought her four siblings, ages 11 to 15, to the march to help them learn about organizing and to connect with other young activists.
“I’m an educator and I believe you can learn outside of the classroom,” she said. “I want them to learn what demonstrating is about and how to stand up for your rights.”
Trump supporters gather at federal building in downtown Los Angeles
Immigrants at #MayDay rally have a message for Trump: ‘We contribute’
Monday’s gathering looked like a mash-up of recent protests across the country.
One group of friends wore shirts from the Women’s March and another group of women wore T-shirts reading “Nurses for Bernie!” A man wearing a Hillary Clinton shirt hoisted a pink Planned Parenthood sign. Another man wore a shirt that said “Climate change is real!” and a hat that read “FACTS.”
Many said they turned out Monday to send a message to just one person: President Trump.
“We can’t continue with the message of immigrants being criminals,” said Julio Martinez, who emigrated from Guanajuato, Mexico, at age 11. “We are workers, we contribute.”
As he spoke, Martinez held a Trump piñata by its paper hair.”Today’s the day we resist hate,” he said.
Not far away was Juan Rodriguez, who sat on the ground as he finished off his cardboard sign with the words “Viva la Raza.”
The 57-year-old Los Angeles resident has attended numerous May Day rallies in the past. But he said he’s never felt more emboldened to take action than he felt Monday.
Trump, he said, has treated Latinos as criminals, drug dealers and rapists.
“But we are nothing like that,” Rodriguez said. “We are hard workers.”
He said Trump has fueled racist attitudes toward Latinos.
Rodriguez came from Mexico to the U.S. about 25 years. He held various jobs from working on a food truck to construction. He’s not married and doesn’t have children.
Rodriguez said he’s never been afraid to speak his mind, especially when it comes to talking about Trump.
“I am not a very educated man, but I am not ignorant... he’s an embarrassment,” Rodriguez said. “I just wish he wasn’t racist and would just let us work in peace without papers because we came to work.”
Crowds preparing to march from MacArthur Park to Grand Park
Thousands prepare to march in downtown Los Angeles
L.A. Unified considered closing schools for May Day protests
Los Angeles Unified school officials want students to be active this May Day — but through conversation inside the classroom, not protests in the streets.
A number of organizations, including the L.A. Unified teachers union, urged the district to close schools Monday so that teachers and students could march. The district decided last month to keep them open.
Students are safest in the classroom and closing schools would disrupt Advanced Placement exams and preparations for many high school students, Superintendent Michelle King wrote in an April letter to district staff. Teachers and schools should use May Day to discuss social movements like this one, she wrote.
“The very act of helping children achieve is an act of resistance, because it counters the narrative that some of our students are incapable of success,” King wrote. “The district remains resolute that the most powerful demonstration we can be a part of is the demonstration that our students are capable of anything.”
‘We’re not going to put up with this’: A message from May Day protesters
The sound of vuvuzelas and a tambourine buzzed in the background as a group of Los Angeles police bike patrol officers zipped through MacArthur Park on Monday morning.
Around 8:30 a.m., protesters began unfurling their banners at the intersection of Alvarado Street and Wilshire Boulevard.
Before long, a common we’re-stronger-together chant began: “El pueblo unido jamás será vencido.”
David Rodriguez, the state director for the Latino civil rights group League of United Latin American Citizens, hoisted up a sign reading, “Build bridges! Not walls! Immigrants welcome!” Cars honked as they drove by. Other signs read, “Musicians are laborers” and “No human being is illegal.”
Rodriguez has attended the march in the past, but he said this year’s gathering has an extra dimension -- it’s pro-labor, but also anti-President Trump.
“We’ve never seen anything at this level in terms of fear and anger in the Latino community,” he said. “It’s important for people to show opposition to this administration. They’re very harsh, they’re family-splitting... The policies are reprehensible.”
“The common message: We’re not going to put up with this,” Rodriguez said.
The president’s actions and rhetoric, Rodriguez said, have already driven up hatred toward Latinos. Beyond emboldening racists, Rodriguez said he fears the rhetoric will also cripple California’s agriculture-heavy economy.
“We’re scaring people away from jobs that nobody wants,” he said.
Nearby, Heidi Muñoz was preparing for a busy day of work. The 14-year-old was selling Mexican flags for $10 and vuvuzelas and air horns for $5.
“Last year we got a lot of business,” she said, smiling. “I think it’s important to celebrate Mexicans.”
May Day road closures for downtown L.A., Boyle Heights
Several main Los Angeles thoroughfares will be closed Monday to make way for marchers in May Day rallies, city officials said.
Starting at MacArthur Park, Wilshire Boulevard from Alvarado Street to Grand Avenue will be closed, then Grand Avenue between 7th and 6th streets, the city said. The march then closes 6th Street between Grand Avenue and Hill Street, then the route heads toward Grand Park, closing Hill from 6th to 1st streets.
Broadway between Olympic Boulevard and 1st Street will also be closed for marchers.
In Boyle Heights, marchers will assemble outside Evergreen Cemetery off Cesar E. Chavez Avenue and Evergreen Avenue, the city said.
Cesar Chavez Avenue between Evergreen and Chicago Street is closed; Chicago Street between Cesar Chavez and 1st Street is closed, as is 1st Street between Chicago and Boyle Avenue, the city said.
May Day demonstrators to sound off against Trump administration
A coalition of immigrant rights, women’s and religious groups, labor unions and LGBTQ advocates will take to the streets of Los Angeles on Monday for a series of May Day marches with a message aimed squarely at President Trump.
“The message we want to send him is that we are united,” said Angelica Salas, executive director of the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles. “When he thinks that immigrants are isolated and that others will not stand up for our immigrant communities, he’s wrong.”
More than 100 groups, representing a wide range of issues, will be part of this year’s rally organized by the May Day Coalition of Los Angeles. In past years, typically about 30 or 40 groups were represented, said CHIRLA spokesman Jorge-Mario Cabrera.
The march, one of dozens of May Day demonstrations scheduled across the country, will start with an 11 a.m. rally at MacArthur Park followed by a march to L.A. City Hall.
Dockworkers plan to shut down Oakland’s waterfront
Organized labor and immigration groups are aiming traditional May Day demonstrations in the Bay Area at the Trump administration.
Dockworkers Monday plan to shut down Oakland’s waterfront, while demonstrations and marches are set outside federal immigration offices, in front of the Oakland jail and along Bay Area Rapid Transit routes. In conjunction, immigration groups have called on workers in the country illegally to boycott work, school and shopping, under a social media campaign branded #shutitdown.
Metro increases service on several rail lines for May Day marches
Los Angeles Metro is increasing rail service for Monday’s May Day march, the agency announced.
Trains on the Gold, Blue, Expo and Green lines will operate on a rush-hour schedule and the Red Line will have a six-car train operating every six minutes, the agency said.
Officials said they expect the busiest stations Monday to be Westlake/MacArthur Park, 7th Street and Metro Center, Grand Park/Civic Center and Union Station downtown.
Metro’s bus service will be changing throughout the day, the agency said, and delays are expected downtown.