May Day demonstrations take over US streets in anti-Trump revolt

May Day demonstrations across the US took over streets from coast to coast as protesters united in their opposition to US President Donald Trump.

This year, the workers' rights day attracted a range of groups, beyond the usual labour and immigrant rights groups. Many of the leaders were newly involved anti-Trump organisers, while Arab activists played a prominent role in Chicago, the birthplace of the annual May Day demonstrations.

"It's especially important this year with so many attacks on working people, and also attacks on civil liberties," Walter Smolarek, media coordinator with the ANSWER Coalition (Act Now to Stop War and End Racism), a protest umbrella group, told The New Arab.

This year, he demonstrated in Philadelphia, where city traffic came to a standstill all afternoon due to the high turnout.

"Today's protests come in the context of rising mass opposition to the Trump administration. A lot of people are also demonstrating for Palestine to urge the government to spend money on people’s needs instead of war and genocide abroad," he said.

"I think different people's movements are uniting to a greater degree due to Trump's offensive, and I think more people are seeing that as a single system. Labour unions are coming out in an even more significant way than in the past," he added.

Though May Day demonstrations are seeing growing popularity across the US, it is an irony that it remains one of the few countries where it is not a national holiday.

May Day, or International Workers' Day, was sparked by the 1886 Haymarket riot and subsequent general strike in Chicago. It is credited for employee safety reforms and the eight-hour workday.

The annual commemoration gained major traction in the US in 2006 with the Day Without an Immigrant (also called the Great American Boycott), when millions of immigrant workers, mainly from Latin America, went on strike.

Over the past several years, Arabs and pro-Palestinian activists have become increasingly involved in May Day demonstrations, as labour unions have become more vocal in their support for Palestinian human rights.