Thousands attended the scattered May Day marches Sunday in Oakland, San Jose and San Francisco, blasting through microphones and chants their frustration with low wages, the upcoming presidential election and social injustice.
Hundreds of workers rallied and marched along San Francisco's scenic bay-front in support of immigrant and workers' rights and to demand justice for several men fatally shot by city police.
Members of the International Longshore & Warehouse Union began their May Day celebration Sunday with a rally at Fisherman's Wharf.
About 300 people holding signs that read “Long Live May Day" and “Stop Police Terror," and chanting “No Justice No Peace! No Racist Police!" then marched along the Embarcadero.
The crowd is holding a second rally at the Harry Bridges Plaza, across from the Ferry Building, where relatives of several Latino and black men killed by San Francisco police are addressing them.
Across the Bay in Oakland, workers with the same union marched from the Fruitvale BART station to a park, where a fair on community resources is being held.
“I’m marching because I’m an immigrant first of all, and my community really depends on fighting back on how we’re being displaced at a national and local level," said Kitzia Estava, a marcher with an organization called Just Cause.
Local
[[“I’m marching because I’m an immigrant first of all, and my community really depends on fighting back on how we’re being displaced at a national and local level.”
“I’m marching because I’m an immigrant first of all, and my community really depends on fighting back on how we’re being displaced at a national and local level.”
Near the Fruitvale BART station, upwards of 800 people turned out and chanted and waved Palestinian flags. The protesters swarmed speakers standing in a flatbed truck, who led the crowd in chant. Police officers attempted to corral the mushrooming crowd by blocking streets.
Meanwhile, over in San Jose, hundreds of people representing a smattering of grass roots organizations turned up in protest, marching to city hall. Some wore bandannas over their mouth that read “survival is not a crime,” while others held signs demanding that San Jose adopt an immediate $15 minimum wage. The march
Adriana Garcia, a marcher with May First Coalition, said her organization stands for "raising the wages to 15 dollars an hour, comprehensive immigration reform, to stop the violence and sexual assault against women, and in solidarity with Black Lives Matter, to also have a living wage and to end wage theft."
