Major demonstrations are planned in cities ranging from Phoenix to San Diego to Indianapolis to Salt Lake City. Tens of thousands of people are expected to protest a wide range of issues related to the Trump administration and its policies on immigration, federal job cuts, and more.
Watch video from the Phoenix event Thursday morning in the video player below:
The political activist organization 50501 is helping coordinate the May Day rally, a national day of solidarity.
“Trump and his billionaire profiteers are trying to create a race to the bottom — on wages, on benefits, on dignity itself,” 50501 wrote on its website. “This May Day, we are fighting back. We are demanding a country that puts our families over their fortunes—public schools over private profits, healthcare over hedge funds, prosperity over free market politics.”
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“They’re defunding our schools, privatizing public services, attacking unions, and targeting immigrant families with fear and violence,” the group added. “Working people build this nation and we know how to take care of each other. We won’t back down — we will never stop fighting for our families and the rights and freedoms that propel opportunity and a better life for all Americans. Their time is up.”
The inspiration behind the May 1 protests stems from the 1971 May Day demonstrations in Washington, D.C. The days-long protests resulted in more than 12,000 arrests as anti-war activists sought to shut down the federal government and disrupt the Vietnam War effort.
