Thousands in U.S. rally against Trump
May Day marches celebrate labor and immigrants
NEW YORK — Thousands of people from New England to the Midwest to the West Coast chanted, picketed and protested Monday as demonstrations raged against President Donald Trump’s immigration policies along with the traditional May Day marching in favor of labor.
Protesters flooded streets in Chicago.
At the White House gates, they demanded “Donald Trump has got to go!”
And they sparked at least four arrests after creating a human chain to block a county building in Oakland, Calif., where demonstrators demanded that authorities refuse to collaborate with federal immigration agents.
In Portland, Ore., some marchers began throwing things including smoke bombs at police, prompting them to pull the permit and cancel the march.
Police were urging all demonstrators to leave because of “numerous incidents of thrown projectiles, incendiary devices, and other unsafe conditions,” though no injuries were reported.
Most protests peaceful
Despite the West Coast clashes, most nationwide protests were peaceful as immigrants, union members and their allies staged a series of strikes, boycotts and marches to highlight the contributions of immigrants in the United States.
“It is sad to see that now being an immigrant is equivalent to almost be- ing a criminal,” said Mary Quezada, 58, a North Caro- lina woman who joined those marching in Wash- ington.
She offered a pointed message to Trump: “Stop bullying immigrants.”
The demonstrations on May Day, celebrated as International Workers’ Day, follow similar actions worldwide in which protesters from the Philippines to Paris demanded better working conditions.
But the widespread protests in the United States were aimed directly at the new Republican president.
Trump, in his first 100 days, has intensified immigration enforcement, including executive orders for a wall along the U.S.Mexico border and a travel ban on six countries.
The government has arrested thousands of immigrants in the country illegally and threatened to withhold funding from socalled “sanctuary cities.”
In cities large and small, the protests intensified throughout the day.
In Houston, activists gathered at three different rallies over the course of the day. Downtown, a march to City Hall drew anti-Trump protesters with provocative signage.
Meanwhile, a mid-day gathering at Guadalupe Plaza Park snaked through the streets to Sen. Ted Cruz’s office in protest of Senate Bill 4, a sanctuary cities bill, and Trump’s immigration policies.
‘We build his towers’
Hours later, another group organized at Guadalupe Plaza Park for a rally that included a Trump piñata.
Leobardo Santillan, a Mexican immigrant, condemned the commanderin chief for his immigration actions.
“President Donald Trump said the country of Mexico is rapists and killers but really he has forgotten the 11 million undocumented immigrants — we build his towers,” he said.
Activists in Phoenix petitioned state legislators to support immigrant families. In a Los Angeles park, several thousand people waved U.S. flags and signs reading “love not hate.”
The White House did not respond to requests for a response to the protests.