May Day marchersflee police tear gas
OAKLAND, Calif. — Hundreds of activists across the U.S. joined the worldwide May Day protests on Tuesday, with Occupy Wall Street members in several cities leading demonstrations and in some cases clashing with police.
In Oakland, Calif., police fired tear gas and “flash-bang” grenades to disperse the crowds, sending protesters fleeing a downtown intersection where they were demonstrating. Officers took four people into custody.
Black-clad protesters in Seattle used sticks to smash small downtown windows and ran through the streets disrupting traffic.
About 2,000 activists marched through Chicago to demand immigration reform and greater protections for workers.
Occupy Chicago activists joined immigration rights advocates, which was noisy but peaceful as police looked on. The demonstration comes weeks before thousands are expected to protest during the NATO summit.
May Day organizers say the anti-Wall Street group’s presence enriches the march. Half a million people rallied in Chicago in 2006 to demand immigration reform. But numbers since have plummeted to just a few thousand.
In New York, police in riot gear lined the front of a Bank of America, facing several dozen Occupy activists marching behind barricades. “Bank of America. Bad for America!” they chanted. About 50 demonstrators in Chicago rallied outside another of the bank’s branches.
Across the world, protests drew tens of thousands of demonstrators into the streets from the Philippines to Spain. They demanded everything from wage increases to an end to austerity measures.
Tuesday’s U.S. protests were the most visible organizing effort by anti-Wall Street groups since Occupy encampments were dismantled last fall.
May Day, which has been associated for more than a century with workers’ rights and the labor movement around the world, has been used by American activists in recent years to hold rallies for immigrants’ rights.
From New York to San Francisco, organizers of the various demonstrations, strikes and acts of civil disobedience said they were not too concerned about muddling their messages. They noted that the movements have similar goals: jobs, fair wages and equality.
In Los Angeles, at least a half a dozen rallies were planned. A rally was also planned in Minneapolis.
In Atlanta, about 100 people rallied outside the state Capitol, where a law targeting illegal immigration was passed last year. They called for an end to local-federal partnerships to enforce immigration law.
The May Day protest was significantly smaller than last year’s, which drew about 1,000 people. Organizers said turnout last year was greater, in part, because the rally was on a Sunday, rather than during the workweek.
In the San Francisco Bay Area, service on the Golden Gate Ferry was shut down as ferry workers went on strike. They have been in contract negotiations for a year in a dispute over health care coverage.
A coalition of bridge and bus workers said they would honor a picket line of at least 50 workers outside the ferry terminal. They were joined by some Occupy protesters.