By Minyoung Son
The traditional May Day march was given a topical twist this year by organizers. In addition to appealing to “all laborers and members of the underclass” to gather at Union Square on May 1, they asked participants to call for the “unconditional surrender of arms by the NYPD and police departments nationwide.”
On the Facebook page promoting the event, organizers referred to the historic origin of the May Day observance, the 1886 Haymarket riot where a demonstration for the eight-hour work week turned deadly.
“When strikers demonstrated at Haymarket Square in Chicago, they were shot at by police, a bomb was thrown, and a court ordered the execution of its organizers,” wrote the May Day organizers on Facebook. “Perhaps the most appropriate meaning of May Day is that it is a day of commemoration for these demonstrators.”
The march included an eclectic combination of groups promoting worker’s rights and those protesting recent killings by police. Other causes included immigrant rights, Palestine, and Syria.
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