Thousands attend May Day marches, rallies across SoCal
LOS ANGELES, CA - MAY 01: People march on May Day, also known as International Workers Day, on May 1, 2019 in Los Angeles, California.(Photo by David McNew/Getty Images)
LOS ANGELES - After a one-year hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic, thousands of union members, immigrant-rights advocates and community activists took part in marches Saturday in traditional May Day processions in support of worker rights and immigrant freedom.
The Full Rights for Immigrants Coalition started a march and car caravan at Broadway and Olympic Boulevard, ending at City Hall. Organizers said they will call for an overhaul of the U.S. immigration system.
"Through the May 1 march and car caravan in downtown Los Angeles we want to send a clear message to the Congress of the United States that our community will accept nothing less than what's contained in the president's U.S. Citizenship Act of 2021,'' said Juan Jose Gutierrez, executive director of the One Stop Immigration and Educational Center.
Members of the Los Angeles May Day Coalition held a socially distanced march and car caravan beginning at Los Angeles State Historic Park. That march will also be in support of the U.S. Citizenship Act, along with Sen. Alex Padilla's Citizenship for Essential Workers Act.
Centro CSO: Community Service Organization held a march through Boyle Heights, rallying briefly outside the Los Angeles Police Department's Hollenbeck Station then ending at Mariachi Plaza, where another rally will be held.
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Organizers said participants will call on President Joe Biden to pursue legalization for all immigrants in the country, while also denouncing fatal shootings by police and sheriff's deputies.
Members of the Bus Riders Union and the Labor Community Strategy Center, meanwhile, will hold an International Workers Day block party, including a screening and discussion of the film "Finally Got the News,'' which focuses on "the great organizing of the League of Revolutionary Black Workers and the Dodge Revolutionary Action Network.''