Los Angles: Boyle Heights marches for 11th annual May Day

Los Angeles, CA – On Friday, May 1, 500 Chicano community members and activists gathered at Mariachi Plaza to rally and march for the 11th annual May Day protest in Boyle Heights. More than 50 different community organizations, unions and local businesses helped put on the event, and were joined by students who walked out of Roosevelt, Garfield and Ed Roybal high schools.

The organizations urged workers fight back, demanding legalization for all, an end to war and police brutality, and to fund public education.

This year’s May Day marks 20 years since the 2006 protests, La Gran Marcha, where millions of immigrants marched against the Sensenbrenner Bill (HR 4437), which aimed to criminalize undocumented immigrants.

“This is the 20-year anniversary to the 2006 mega-marches where Raza and a lot of working class immigrants walked off the job, didn’t go to school and shut the city down by taking the streets in downtown LA,” said Centro CSO immigration co-chair Verita Topete.

The event began with a blessing from Father Brendan from the Dolores Mission church, followed by a rally which included speakers from Centro CSO, Legalization for All, Proyecto Pastoral, About Face, Union De Vecinos, the People’s Care Collective, Immigo and Teamsters Local 396.

Sara Venegas, an Amazon driver who recently unionized with Teamsters Local 396 and then went on an unfair labor practice strike after Amazon retaliated against their union said, “They thought they could kill the fire in our hearts, but they’ve strengthened the flame, and now we’re on a ULP strike. Let’s hold big corporations like Amazon accountable.”

The group took to the streets to march across 1st Street Bridge, chanting “¡Se ve, se siente, el pueblo está presente!” and demands for legalization for all and an end to U.S. wars. As speakers from Black Lives Matter LA and Freedom Road Socialist Organization addressed the crowd, LAPD helicopters hovered above, telling the group to disperse and stop blocking traffic. The police also sent out an Amber Alert to everyone in the area stating that people should avoid the area because an “Unlawful assembly declared.”

Gabriel Quiroz Jr. from the Freedom Road Socialist Organization commented on the ongoing police violence against May Day protests from the Haymarket riots in Chicago, to the streets of Los Angeles today, “The first protest I ever attended was May Day in 2007 at MacArthur Park. I got to see the power of organized Raza. I also got to see political repression by LAPD.”

As the march turned back towards Boyle Heights, speakers from the Palestinian Youth Movement, ILPS, the Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador, and Gabriela LA spoke on the how U.S. imperialism affects other countries and the need for working and oppressed people of the world to come together to fight back against it.

“The corrupt Philippine government sold out our country to the United States and the imperialists. They are responsible for the displacement and migration of our people. We are here in solidarity with the working class here in Los Angeles and abroad. Many migrate here for better opportunities, promised the American dream and yet they struggle,” said a member of Gabriela LA.

As the sun set over the march, the crowd danced back into Mariachi Plaza. Throughout the program the speakers encouraged the crowd to join an organization to build the fight against Trump and for an even bigger and more united May Day protest next year.

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