Thousands rally against Trump, Musk in nationwide May Day protests: Replay
Protests against what organizers called a "billionaire takeover" were planned in every U.S. state.
WASHINGTON – Thousands of people marched near the White House as part of nationwide protests against the Trump administration, its policies and the billionaires supporting them in what organizers are calling "a war on working people."
Over 1,000 demonstrations and rallies were scheduled in every state and abroad, most being held May 1 – historically known as May Day or International Workers' Day. The volunteer-led 50501 movement, which spurred other nationwide protests this year, helped organize the demonstrations along with labor unions, student groups and other grassroots organizations.
One of the larger protests kicked off in Washington, D.C., with a "May Day Movement USA" rally on the National Mall. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez spoke to demonstrators in New York City. In Philadelphia, Sen. Bernie Sanders joined the "Workers over Billionaires" rally hosted by the city's AFL-CIO chapter.
“Never before in our history have so few had so much wealth while so many Americans are struggling,” he told thousands of supporters in front of Philadelphia's City Hall. “Never before have so few had so much political power.”
Organizers say the protests are centering on opposition to President Donald Trump and billionaire supporters, including Elon Musk, who has led the Department of Government Efficiency's slashing of the federal workforce. Organizers accuse the Trump administration, Musk and their wealthy backers of attempting to "erase labor rights, break our unions, and silence immigrant voices."
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez addresses NYC rally
As the workday ended, thousands of rallygoers in New York City crowded in Foley Square and spilled onto streets in lower Manhattan.
Demonstrators held signs criticizing cuts to federal jobs and research and the wrongful deportation of Kilmar Abrego Garcia to El Salvador. Several attendees hoisted upside-down American flags, meaning distress in the country.
Just before a march started through the streets during rush hour, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., told the energized crowd, which snaked around several city blocks, that protests make Congress think twice about cuts to entitlement programs such as Medicaid and Medicare.
"They see you, New York," she said. "They see the gathering. But our fight is not over."
– Eduardo Cuevas
Sanders calls May Day 'a sacred holiday'
Bernie Sanders, the independent senator from Vermont, addressed thousands of protesters gathered in Philadelphia. One demonstrator held up a sign that read "hands off legislative and judicial authority."
"May Day is, in a sense, a sacred holiday," Sanders told the crowd. "And all over our country workers are coming out, demanding justice. And all over the world, in dozens of countries, workers are standing up to oligarchy and demanding a world in which all people have a decent standard of living."
"Over the last 50 years, the very richest people in this country have become much richer, while 800,000 people today sleep out on the street and the average worker struggles," Sanders said.
– Marina Pitofsky
Wife of wrongfully deported man speaks in front of White House
Jennifer Vasquez Sura, the wife of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a wrongfully deported Maryland man, called on the Trump administration to “stop playing political games with my husband’s life.”
Speaking to a crowd of protesters in front of the White House, she said it has been 50 days since Abrego Garcia was “thrown away to die in one of the most dangerous prisons in El Salvador with no due process because of an error.”
“This pain is indescribable,” she said. “My children have been left to live in the silence of their father’s absence and they miss him more than anything.”
She reminded the crowd that the Supreme Court demanded that the administration “facilitate” Abrego Garcia’s release and asked, “Why are they still waiting? Enough is enough.”
As she paused to wipe tears from her eyes, the crowd chanted “bring him home!”
'We all need to be out here': Hundreds rally against Trump at Louisville May Day protest
Caroline Grier stood on the corner of Sixth and Jefferson streets in downtown Louisville, Kentucky, holding a hand-painted sign. Her bleached buzz cut boasted a similar slogan in bright blue dye — "The U.S. Has No Kings.”
The aim of her message: Trump.
Grier was one of over 200 people who protested the Trump administration in the city as part of a nationwide May Day demonstration. Grier said she's attended several similar protests since January, alongside her mother and younger sister
“We've been going for as many as we can make it to,” Grier said. “There are just so many rights to be fighting for right now.”
– Keely Doll
Dozens of demonstrators in Jackson, Mississippi
Approximately 40 people attended a protest in Jackson, Mississippi, a smaller turnout compared to the last two major demonstrations in the state's capital that saw more than 400 participants. Attendance size remained consistent with the initial rallies.
Among the crowd was protester David Wood, a migrant-worker advocate. Wood criticized the current administration for what he described as "demonizing" migrant workers. Wood told the Paste BN Network that migrant workers do not drive down wages or take jobs away from Americans, nor do they come to the country to commit crimes.
"Anyone paranoid about a globalizing and multiracial society needs to place their fears on someone else ... Immigrant workers are not criminals," Wood said.
May Day protests bring tension in Florida retirement community
Hundreds of protesters lined the streets of one Florida’s largest retirement communities, The Villages, to participate in the "May Day: National Day of Action,” according to organizers.
One person held a sign that read, "Ikea has better cabinets," referring to Trump's executive branch. Another told the Paste BN Network that about 80% of passersby had cheered them on.
But political tensions also flared in the Republican-leaning community, which has previously made political headlines. At one point, a supporter of the president drove by in a golf cart waving a giant Trump banner, blaring Lee Greenwood's "God Bless the USA."
Trump handily won the area surrounding The Villages in the 2020 election, including Marion, Sumter and Lake Counties.
– Julie Garisto, The Daily Commercial
Arizona draws thousands to May Day march
Phoenix’s rally drew about 3,000 attendees who marched for about a mile and a half from the Arizona State Capitol to the Sandra Day O'Connor United States Courthouse, organizers said.
The Arizona May Day march and rally was coordinated by several organizations, including unions, churches and grassroots community members. Mi Familia en Accion, a civic engagement organization targeted toward Latino communities, was among the groups participating in the May Day action.
"On this May Day we join forces and continue to raise our voices to remind the nation that immigrants and our working-class communities are the backbone of this country,” said Stephanie Vargas, Arizona field organizer for the group. “Our dignity is not up for negotiation and our contributions need to be recognized.”
– Wren Smetana, Taylor Seely and Alexandra Hardle The Arizona Republic
Union leaders march with workers during May Day protest
Jaime Contreras, the executive vice president of the SEIU 32BJ union, which represents 185,000 workers along the East Coast, joined the protest in Washington with dozens of members to stand up for the rights of immigrants.
“We are workers; we are not criminals. We came here for the same reason your ancestors came here, which is to give our families a better life and to give ourselves a better future,” he said.
Contreras said the union represents workers in commercial office buildings, federal offices and airports from Maine to Florida. More than 40 percent of SEIU members are minorities, according to the organization's website. The organization was founded in 1921 by a group of immigrants who worked as janitors.
“Immigrants make America,” he said, “It is time for us to say stop deporting our communities, stop deporting our friends and family without due process and without respect for the rule of law.”
'This is what democracy looks like,' crowds chant
By noontime, the crowd of protesters in Washington swelled to thousands. People of all ages shut down traffic as they marched to the streets north of the White House, chanting what has now become a common protest phrase in the district: "This is what democracy looks like."
Among the crowd was Jodi Sangster, whose retirement from the U.S. Army went into effect on the day of the protest. She said while she had planned to retire before Trump returned to office, she would “never have served under this.”
The lieutenant colonel said she came out to protest the administration’s “overtly unconstitutional” actions, especially what she said was the erosion of due process in the immigrant court system.
“We have due process for a reason,” she said. “Without it, anyone can be snatched up and that starts to feel like 1930s Germany. And that’s not why any of us served.”
May Day protesters gather near the White House
Jennifer Ives, a public school teacher from Germantown, Maryland, was among a crowd of hundreds who gathered in a small city park blocks from the White House the morning of May 1 to decry what she called the Trump administration’s attacks on immigrant communities.
Ives said it's “getting hard to recognize this country,” pointing to the recent deportation of three children, all U.S. citizens, including one with cancer, to Honduras.
Her friend Monica Berlin, holding a sign reading “Inhuman Callous Evil,” said the nationwide protests have kept her spirits up.
“This is one of the few things that makes us feel better, energized,” said the 54-year-old account manager for a security company.
Trump's billionaire supporters
Trump gained major support from the billionaire class in the lead up to his second term in office. While Musk spent $288 million to help elect Trump, Mark Zuckerberg's Meta and Jeff Bezos' Amazon both donated $1 million to Trump's inaugural fund and since have fallen in line with the president's agenda.
Meta scrapped its U.S. fact-checking program and overhauled how it manages political content. The Washington Post, which is owned by Bezos, did not issue an endorsement in the last election and announced an opinion page shift in February to a focus on "personal liberties and free markets." Meta and Amazon joined other companies in scaling back diversity programs, an initiative Trump has pushed hard in executive orders.
In a recent interview with the Atlantic, Trump paid compliments to Bezos, saying “He’s 100 percent. He’s been great." Speaking about the owner of Facebook and Instagram, Trump said “Zuckerberg’s been great.”
Anti-Trump protests
In early April, demonstrators took to the streets in cities large and small across all 50 states to rally against Trump and his sweeping actions. There were more than 1,000 "Hands Off" protests and organizers estimated more than half a million people showed up to the rallies.
Protesters interviewed by Paste BN Network reporters said they showed up to fight job cuts to the Social Security Administration and the Department of Veteran Affairs. Some carried signs supporting trans rights and decrying the economic impact of tariffs. Others gathered to show their opposition to Trump's deportation program, especially after Kilmar Ábrego García was mistakenly sent to a maximum security prison in El Salvador.
Ahead of those demonstrations, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said "protests, lawsuits, and lawfare" will not sway the president "from delivering on the promises he made to make our federal government more efficient and more accountable."
Trump held a rally in Michigan on April 29 to celebrate his first 100 days in office. During his speech, Trump vowed to protect Medicare and Social Security and defended his sweeping efforts on tariffs, immigration and DOGE, promising much more to come.
“We’ve accomplished more in three months than most administrations accomplished in four years or eight years," the president declared, adding, "We're just getting started."
What are the May Day 2025 rallies?
The events dubbed May Day 2025 and May Day Strong are using the hashtag #MayDayStrong and are considered a "National Day of Action" that is backed by a coalition of over 250 local organizations.
Groups will be marching on streets, rallying in communities, protesting on the local level at congressional offices, hanging banners and staging walk-ins in front of schools.
The May 1 demonstrations will also stretch beyond the U.S. as organizers say they have planned rallies in Florence, Italy; Paris; and in cities across the United Kingdom.
"We are reclaiming our power from corporate elites, and we will not be intimidated by Trump, Musk, or their billionaire backers," organizers wrote. "They’ve ruled for too long. Their time is up. And May Day is just the beginning."
Organizers say they are demanding protection of Medicare and Social Security, "fully funded schools, healthcare and housing for all," and a stop to "attacks on immigrants, Black, Indigenous, trans people, and other communities."
May Day's origins
May Day is a seasonal celebration of spring marked by parades and bright colors and a day to honor workers, often marked by protests and rallies.
With its roots in the pagan tradition, May Day celebrations stretch back to the Middle Ages, when festivities marked the midway point between the spring equinox and the summer solstice. Celebrations of spring on May Day are still held in many parts of the U.S. with maypole dances and the gifting of flower baskets.
May 1 became associated with workers' rights in 1886 when hundreds of thousands of laborers in Chicago participated in a multi-day strike to push for an eight-hour workday.
The strikes were marked by bloodshed as clashes between protesters and police grew violent. Over half a dozen people were killed and dozens were injured, including in the May 4, 1886, rally in Haymarket Square where a bomb exploded in a melee.
In 1889, labor activists declared May 1 International Workers' Day to commemorate the Haymarket Affair and advocate for workers rights. Today, many nations across South America, Africa, Europe and Asia officially recognize the date as a holiday. In the U.S., efforts to move Labor Day from September to May have been unsuccessful.
Contributing: Zac Anderson, Claire Thornton, Francesca Chambers and Lori Comstock, Paste BN Network