{"id":295711,"date":"2026-05-01T23:00:30","date_gmt":"2026-05-01T23:00:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/295711\/"},"modified":"2026-05-01T23:00:30","modified_gmt":"2026-05-01T23:00:30","slug":"may-day-protests-across-bay-area-call-for-no-work-no-school-no-shopping-the-mercury-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/295711\/","title":{"rendered":"May Day protests across Bay Area call for \u2018no work, no school, no shopping\u2019 \u2013 The Mercury News"},"content":{"rendered":"

A Peninsula state senator and multiple San Francisco supervisors were arrested Friday amid a swell of May Day protests across the Bay Area, which saw thousands of people decry the rising cost of living in America and an increasingly-empowered billionaire class under President Donald Trump.<\/p>\n

The arrests of Menlo Park Democrat Josh Becker and two-dozen other elected officials, labor leaders and fellow protesters at San Francisco International Airport marked the latest public action to hit the region and the nation. The rallies, under the banner of \u201cMay Day Strong,\u201d called for a national one-day business boycott and \u201cno work, no school, no shopping,\u201d prompting some businesses to shut their doors as people took the streets in solidary with International Workers\u2019 Day.<\/p>\n

At the San Francisco airport, protesters blocked access to one of the terminal\u2019s departure lanes; police then zip-tied 25 people and issued citations for unlawful assembly. Others arrested included San Francisco supervisors Rafael Mandelman and Connie Chan, who converged on the airport a day after the contract for one employee union there expired, Becker told this news outlet.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne job should be enough \u2014 you should be able to live in the Bay Area and feed your family on one job,\u201d Becker said. \u201cUnfortunately, in the Bay Area for too many workers, that just isn\u2019t true.\u201d<\/p>\n

Across the Bay, at Oakland\u2019s airport, a mass of protesters chanted \u201cPeople power!\u201d and \u201cWe\u2019re May Day strong,\u201d while marching through the drop-off areas of for Delta Airlines, Alaska Airlines and Volaris. Organizers had said before the protest that they planned to target Delta specifically for its role in transporting a 5-year-old child from Minnesota to an ICE detention facility<\/a>\u00a0in Texas.<\/p>\n

The protest typified the myriad demands on display Friday, including the end to aggressive immigration arrests and deportation operations across the nation, along with the war in Iran. At the airport, many people held signs opposing arms shipments to Israel through the Port of Oakland, while others read \u201cStop U.S. wars\u201d and \u201cTax the rich.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re the people \u2014 we\u2019re the ones who made them rich,\u201d said Gregory Slaughter, 73, of the nation\u2019s billionaire class. \u201cThey need to pay their fair share of taxes.\u201d \t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

In San Jose, hundreds of people \u2014 including Tom Steyer, the San Francisco hedge fund manager-turned-gubernatorial candidate \u2014 converged on the intersection of Story and King roads in East San Jose, chanting \u201cSi se puede\u201d and carrying banners urging the city to protect immigrants from ICE agents. Wearing a shirt proclaiming \u201cprotect all immigrants,\u201d Laura Randall said she joined the rally to protest a lack of respect for human rights.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re not treating human beings the way they should be. No healthcare, no food, no \u2014 the schools for the migrants,\u201d said Randall, a retired schoolteacher. \u201cIn this country we\u2019re all immigrants. There isn\u2019t anybody here who aren\u2019t immigrants somewhere in the past. Including the administration.\u201d<\/p>\n

Speaking to the crowd, Communications Workers of America representative Louie Rocha urged attendees to sustain their opposition against the Trump administration.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe billionaires and their evil twin, corporate greed, will never stop trying to divide us,\u201d Rocha said.<\/p>\n

In the East Bay, some businesses \u2014 including the Grand Lake Theater and Arizmendi near Lake Merritt in Oakland \u2014 remained closed for the day, in solidarity with protesters.<\/p>\n

At Berkeley\u2019s Martin Luther King Jr. Civic Center Park, trades workers represented by a dozen unions joined Berkeley High School students and other young people in speaking out against the Trump administration. Some wore work boots and orange safety vests, while others carried signs calling for the abolition of ICE, lambasting corporate profit over community benefits and encouraging people to \u201cresist fascists.\u201d<\/p>\n

One demonstration began nearly an hour before sunrise outside a housing development underway along Ellsworth Street in Berkeley being built with mostly non-labor workers. After two hours, the lone unionized worker at the site walked off the job in solidary with the nearby picketers, said Jason Gumataotao, lead organizer with the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 595.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese are union members giving up a day\u2019s wages when times are tough, to be in solidarity with everybody\u2019s struggle,\u201d Gumataotao said. \u201cThat\u2019s a big deal.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Bay Area demonstrations came amid protests across the world supporting May Day, which is recognized in many countries as a national holiday celebrating workers rights. Demonstrations were seen in Seoul, Sydney, Jakarta, Morocco, Turkey, France and the Philippines, the Associated Press reported<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The demonstrations came amid ever-widening shows of discontent over Trump\u2019s second term in office, including his hollowing out of the federal workforce and a controversial set of tariffs. More recently, protesters have decried his decision to go to war with Iran, which has caused average gas prices to surge toward and in some cases past $6 a gallon across the state.<\/p>\n

Organizers claimed\u00a0roughly 8 million people showed out<\/a>\u00a0across the nation in late March for the third round of \u201cNo Kings\u201d protests, which aimed to push back against what they characterized as the Trump administration\u2019s authoritarian policies. Some 136,000 people took to the streets at more than 50 rallies across the Bay Area \u2014 a dip from protests in June 2025 and October 2025, which drew crowds of 140,000 and 220,000, respectively.<\/p>\n

\"Passengers<\/p>\n

Passengers wait for their ride as demonstrators in a caravan slowly ride past at the Oakland International Airport as part of a May Day protest in Oakland, Friday, May 1, 2026. (Ray Chavez\/Bay Area News Group)<\/p>\n

\"Demonstrators<\/p>\n

Demonstrators riding in a caravan protest at Oakland International Airport as part of a May Day protest in Oakland, Calif., on Friday, May 1, 2026. (Ray Chavez\/Bay Area News Group)<\/p>\n

\"Alameda<\/p>\n

Alameda County sheriff’s officers stand guard as demonstrators protest at the Oakland San Francisco Bay Airport as part of a May Day protest in Oakland, Friday, May 1, 2026. (Ray Chavez\/Bay Area News Group)<\/p>\n

\"Demonstrators<\/p>\n

Demonstrators in a caravan slowly ride past fellow protesters at the Oakland International Airport as part of a May Day protest in Oakland, Friday, May 1, 2026. (Ray Chavez\/Bay Area News Group)<\/p>\n

Show Caption<\/p>\n

1 of 4<\/p>\n

Passengers wait for their ride as demonstrators in a caravan slowly ride past at the Oakland International Airport as part of a May Day protest in Oakland, Friday, May 1, 2026. (Ray Chavez\/Bay Area News Group)<\/p>\n

Expand<\/a><\/p>\n

In Oakland\u2019s Fruitvale district, where a mostly Latino worker base has come under threat from the Trump administration\u2019s crackdown on immigration, demonstrators banged drums and held up flags, chanting in Spanish the popular Chilean protest expression: \u201cThe people united will never be divided!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt may seem that we have no rights,\u201d said Sonia, a worker at an International Boulevard restaurant that Friday\u2019s speakers accused of stealing wages from employees. \u201cBut we have rights if we stick together and join together.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bay Area News Group staff writer Shomik Mukherjee contributed to this report.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Peninsula state senator and multiple San Francisco supervisors were arrested Friday amid a swell of May Day…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":295712,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[389,184,387,7,8,400,409,392,536,332,9858,383,384,181,23,205,992,2582,100,993,143,145,18880,144,395,13,7361,385,1748,101,396,603,397,198,200,1695,5476,2718],"class_list":["post-295711","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-oakland","tag-alameda-county","tag-bay-area","tag-business","tag-california","tag-california-news","tag-california-politics","tag-city-politics","tag-contra-costa-county","tag-donald-trump","tag-east-bay","tag-east-oakland","tag-economy","tag-inflation","tag-latest-headlines","tag-local-news","tag-local-politics","tag-marin-county","tag-national-politics","tag-news","tag-north-bay","tag-oakland","tag-oakland-headlines","tag-oakland-international-airport","tag-oakland-news","tag-peninsula","tag-politics","tag-protests","tag-regional","tag-republicans","tag-san-francisco","tag-san-francisco-county","tag-san-francisco-international-airport","tag-san-mateo-county","tag-santa-clara-county","tag-south-bay","tag-trump-administration","tag-unions","tag-workers"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/295711","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=295711"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/295711\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/295712"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=295711"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=295711"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=295711"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}