Rallies and marches are scheduled in several parts of Los Angeles Monday for May Day.
Events are planned in downtown Los Angeles, Little Tokyo and Boyle Heights.
Here’s what to know about the marches.
Downtown Los Angeles May Day March
An early morning rally will kick off May Day events in downtown Los Angeles at Olympic Boulevard and Broadway. A march at 5 p.m. that will begin at the intersection. Marchers will head to Pershing Square, then continue to Grand Park in front of City Hall for a 6 p.m. program
The theme of the march is “Solidarity is Power: Right to Citizenship, Right to Unionize, Right to Strike, & Right to Housing.” The coalition includes the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, United Teachers Los Angeles, the Service Employees International Union, IATSE Local 839, the National Union of Healthcare Workers, Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights, Communist Party USA and Democratic Socialists of America-Los Angeles.
Little Tokyo May Day Events
Revolution Club LA will have a 3 p.m. demonstration at First Street and Central Avenue in Little Tokyo.
May Day in Boyle Heights
The eighth annual May Day Boyle Heights will begin at 4:30 p.m. with a rally at the intersection of Mathews Street and Cesar Chavez Avenue in Boyle Heights. A march will follow, with marchers heading west on Cesar Chavez Avenue, then south on Chicago Street, stopping at the Hollenbeck Community Police Station, where a protest is planned. The march will continue to Mariachi Plaza for another program.
What is May Day?
Labor groups in the United States have conducted rallies and protests on May 1 since 1890, originally commemorating the anniversary of the Haymarket affair on May 4, 1886. The peaceful rally in Chicago’s Haymarket Square in support of workers striking for an eight-hour work day ended with someone throwing a dynamite bomb at police as they acted to disperse the crowd. The bomb blast and ensuing gunfire resulted in the deaths of seven police officers and at least four civilians.
Eight anarchists were convicted of conspiracy in a trial their supporters called unfair and a serious miscarriage of justice. Seven were sentenced to death and one to a term of 15 years in prison. Illinois Governor Richard J. Oglesby commuted two of the sentences to terms of life in prison while another committed suicide in jail before his scheduled execution. The other four were hanged on Nov. 11, 1887.
Illinois Gov. John Peter Altgeld pardoned the remaining defendants in 1893 and criticized the trial.
