May Day protests sweep Bay Area with decidedly anti-Trump focus

Thousands of protesters flooded Bay Area streets Thursday for May Day – many of them holding signs with slogans declaring “resist fascism” and “impeach Trump” – in a rebuke of Trump administration actions, marking the third such mass mobilization in recent weeks.

May Day typically draws rallies and protests in support of labor, living wages and working conditions. Many of Thursday’s two dozen Bay Area protests also aimed criticism at the administration of President Donald Trump.

In San Jose, hundreds of protesters gathered at the corner of King and Story roads, many of them from the Hispanic immigrant community.

Sheila Thomas, a blues singer from San Jose, said she joined the protest to oppose Trump’s policies, particularly staffing and eligibility changes to Social Security and Medicare either pushed through Elon Musk’s Department of Governmental Efficiency or being weighed by Congress in order to enable tax cuts.

“This is affecting the disabled, the poor — what would Jesus do?” she said. “Take from the poor and give to the rich? I’m standing up for my brothers and sisters of all colors.”

Fewer than a dozen Trump supporters appeared at the same intersection. One held a bullhorn and attempted to speak over protest chants of “¡Sí se puede!”, the Spanish version of “Yes you can!,” the motto of the United Farm Workers.

Another supporter handed out flyers with contact information for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, encouraging people to “report illegal aliens.”

Bonnie Brown, a retired retail worker from Campbell, said she came out to support the immigrant community.

“The main issues for me are the lack of due process,” Brown said. “We’ve got people being erased, people disappearing in the United States. Immigrants are afraid to go to work, family members are afraid to go to church. Friends and colleagues are afraid for their children’s education. We’re afraid of everything right now.”

Brown attended the protest with her friend and neighbor Gunita Saxena, a retired human resources professional.

Saxena, who carried a sign that read “Hands off our free press,” said the administration’s attacks on the media compelled her to join.

“We’ve been going out to protests just hoping we’ll make a dent and eventually make a difference,” she said. “It’s the only thing we have under our control.”

In Oakland’s Fruitvale Plaza, where drumming and cheering could be heard blocks away, thousands of protesters held signs advocating for workers’ rights, women’s rights and trans rights, as well as an end to mass deportations, firings and arms shipments to Israel.

From the bed of a big rig, International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 10 President Aaron Write shared concerns about the potential for artificial intelligence to take jobs away from humans.

“The only way we’ll even have a remote chance of fighting this onslaught against us and getting due process and free speech for our people is to work together like they did back in the ’30s,” Write said. “Power to the people. An injury to one is an injury to all.”

In addition to unity, arts and culture are also central to current movements, said David De La Grqn, an organizer with Eastside Arts Alliance, as he observed and participated in traditional rituals led by Aztec dancers.

Rather than view each cause represented at the rally as separate, De La Gran said collective liberation connects all movements.

“It’s people power. Whatever we build is what we’re going to be left with,” he said. “Governments are not here for us. The oligarchs are not here for us. None of the corporate power structure that’s out here is for us. So we have to be out here for ourselves and understand that through our collective power, you know, we’re the ones that run everything.”

In Fremont, a few hundred protesters gathered at the intersection of Walnut Avenue and Paseo Padre Parkway, lining the four corners of the intersection. Many of their signs listed causes protesters were passionate about, ranging from protecting Social Security and Medicare to stopping deportations.

Lillian Martinez, 71, of Union City, said it was her sixth protest since Trump returned to office in January. Her biggest concern was immigration followed by Medicare and the cuts to research and education, she said, and it feels like it has “gotten to a point where we have to really stand up.”

“Education is a big deal because I’m a lifelong teacher,” Martinez said. Trump “wants to get rid of the Department of Education. Are you kidding me?”

For Earl Aguilera, a 38-year-old teacher from Fremont, the most pressing issue was also the cuts to education, including the cutting of funds to the Department of Education and the Institute of Museum and Library Services, he said.

“Broadly I am really here in support of all of our people who are under attack because when one of us is under attack, all of us is under attack,” Aguilera said, adding that the protest’s turnout “excited” him. “Hopefully people will keep the momentum up, prepare ourselves for bigger and bigger movements. The fight is not going to be easy, but it is always going to be worth it.”

When Marie Hughes, 67 of Fremont, learned about World War II-era Japanese internment camps in school, she said, she told herself that if that ever happened again, she would be at the gates protesting.

“They sent them to El Salvador, but I can be here,” Hughes said. “I just feel like democracy and due process and the Constitution is under attack.”

Hundreds of people gathered in Los Gatos’s town plaza, carrying signs that denounced deportations, wealth inequality and Musk’s government cuts as cars honked around them and speakers blared playing protest songs.

“The idea behind this was to create a safe space for people to come, share their concerns and their commitment to our democracy, get to know each other — if they’re not in a group, join one — and to build from here,” said Marsha Palitz-Elliott, the rally’s organizer.

Since Trump assumed office in January, the Bay Area has rippled with frequent protests — both against his actions and the work of Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency. Thousands of Bay Area residents joined hundreds of thousands of protesters nationwide to declare “Hands Off” as part of a national day of action April 5 that roused activists from Oakland to San Jose. Two weeks later, residents showed out again to call for an end to “fascism” and proclaim “no kings” in another national day of action.

These nationwide movements have been augmented by local protests against immigration enforcement and Trump’s threats of mass deportations. In many cities, hundreds of residents have rallied outside Tesla dealerships to protest Musk’s cuts to the federal government through weekly Tesla Takeover protests. Residents have also protested several times against Trump’s threats of mass deportations, and students and faculty at universities across the state have protested the Trump administration’s funding cuts to higher education.

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(Staff writer Nollyanne Delacruz contributed to this report.)

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