SEATTLE — Tens of thousands across the country peacefully chanted, picketed and protested on Monday against President Donald Trump’s immigration and labor policies on May Day, despite a small pocket of violent unrest in the Pacific Northwest.
Peaceful protesters flocked to the streets in Chicago. At the White House gates, they demanded “Donald Trump has got to go!“
But police shut down a protest in Portland, Oregon, that they said had become a riot, after marchers began throwing smoke bombs and other items at officers. Police said they made more than two dozen arrests as a group of anarchists wearing black bandanas and ski masks grew unruly. Several businesses in the area had broken windows.
Three people in Seattle were arrested, one for hurling a rock as pro- and anti-Trump demonstrators faced off.
In the Washington state capital of Olympia, police ordered protesters to disperse, calling them “members of a mob” as some threw bottles, used pepper spray and fired rocks from slingshots at officers. Two officers were injured and 10 people were arrested.
In Oakland, California, at least four were arrested after creating a human chain to block a county building where demonstrators demanded that county law enforcement refuse to collaborate with federal immigration agents.
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 US.
Trump, in his first 100 days, has intensified immigration enforcement, including executive orders for a wall along the US-Mexico border and a ban on travelers from six predominantly Muslim countries.
In Chicago, 28-year-old Brenda Burciaga was among thousands of people who marched through the streets to push back against the new administration.
“Everyone deserves dignity,” said Burciaga, whose mother is set to be deported after living in the US for about 20 years.
“I hope at least they listen. We are hardworking people.”
In cities large and small, the protests intensified throughout the day.
Teachers working without contracts opened the day by picketing outside schools in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. Activists in Phoenix petitioned state legislators to support immigrant families.
Thousands of union members and activists marched in the shadow of some of the biggest resorts on the Las Vegas Strip, including a hotel that bears the president’s name.
In a Los Angeles park, several thousand people waved American flags and signs reading “love not hate.”
The White House did not respond to requests for a response to the May Day demonstrations.
While union members traditionally march on May 1 for workers’ rights around the world, the day has become a rallying point for immigrants in the US since massive demonstrations were held on the date in 2006 against a proposed immigration enforcement bill.
In recent years, immigrant rights protests shrank as groups diverged and shifted their focus on voter registration and lobbying. Larger crowds returned this year, prompted by Trump’s ascension to the presidency. — AP
