Tag Archives: #MayDay2025

AOC Fires Up Crowd of 6,000 at May Day Protest in NYC-See Photo Highlights

Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez fires up the 6,000 May Day protesters in Foley Square, NYC © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com

By Karen Rubin, [email protected]news-photos-features.com

The 6,000 May Day protesters gathered at Foley Square in front of the Federal Courthouse and surrounded by federal buildings, were fired up by the surprise appearance of Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez who had raced from an airport to give her energy to the labor movement amidst the unprecedented crackdown of civil and workers rights by the Trump Administration.

Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez fires up the 6,000 May Day protesters in Foley Square, NYC © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com

AOC called on them to keep the pressure on the MAGA Republican lawmakers, who have ceded their co-equal power to the dictator wannabe rather than face his ire or a primary challenge. The protests – collectively the largest in history -through the first 100 days of Trump’s presidency, have not been futile exercises. Just that day, Republicans pulled a vote to slash Medicaid by an unprecedented $888 billion. “They have stopped and suspended next week’s Medicaid cuts because they’re getting too scared,” Ocasio-Cortez said. “They see you, New York, they see the gathering.”

This is what Democracy Looks Like. May Day Protest, NYC © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com

She urged continued vigilance, warning that they will vote again in the dead of night when they think no one is watching.

She energized the crowd, declaring that the Trump administration is much more prepared and planned this time around in terms of the kinds of chaos that they’re trying to unleash. More than legal programs, more than policy, they are trying to invoke fear.

Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez fires up the 6,000 May Day protesters in Foley Square, NYC © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com

That is how authoritarianism works. These are the tools to get us to sacrifice and surrender our civil liberties, more than they take them.” Indeed, Trump pardoned virtually all the January 6th insurrectionists, including those who had threatened her life. “I’m not going to give them my fear,” she has told supporters. “They’re relying on us giving up. Hell no.”

We’re going to keep standing with trans people.
We’re going to keep standing with the LGBT community.
We’re going to keep standing for the working class.
We’re going to keep fighting for a better minimum wage.
We’re going to keep fighting to guarantee healthcare.

Please Save Me. May Day Protest, NYC © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com

The issues that have dominated the anti-Trump protests that have been virtually constant were present here too – Hands Off public education with huge contingents of protesters from colleges and teachers unions and immigrant rights. 

And typical of May Day protests were the demands by workers, but the Tax the Rich and Down with Billionaires themes more vitriolic and urgent. You get the feeling that if Trump is not stopped in his march toward authoritarianism, there will be an equally strong backlash. One cannot but think that Trump is hoping for these protests to get even more animated and violent, so he can declare martial law under the Insurrection Act and snuff out the last vestige of opposition, after decimating the judicial system, the Congress, a free press (he just signed an order canceling federal spending for NPR and PBS).

S.O.S. May Day. May Day Protest, NYC © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com

The May Day protest, an annual rite in New York City, featured the city’s labor unions, students and educators, a huge contingent of pro-Palestinian protesters, and were joined by those standing against encroachment of power, rise of autocracy and Fascism, and standing up for due process, democracy, public education, healthcare, immigrant rights, social security and Medicaid and healthcare.

Resist. May Day Protest, NYC © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com

Many protesters exclaimed support for immigrants, for students whose visas were cancelled and arrested for exercising free speech, and for Khalil Abrego Garcia specifically, wrongly deported to an El Salvador gulag without due process, as the face of a victim of a tyranny.

No American Auschwitz. May Day Protest, NYC © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com

Veronica Salama, the New York Civil Liberties Union staff attorney who is part of the legal team representing Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil, condemned Trump for separating Khalil from his family and said Khalil’s arrest violated the first amendment.

Health Care is a Human Right. May Day Protest, NYC © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com

The protesters marched down Broadway, ending at the Charging Bull, the iconic image of Wall Street, to emphasize the message on many of the signs: Send Billionaires to Mars, Tax the Rich, Fight Fascism.

Stop the Mass Kidnappings. May Day Protest, NYC © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com

New York City’s May Day protest was one of more than 1000 in more than 800 cities and towns across the country, and the second that day at Foley Square (some 3,000 lawyers came out in front of the federal court during Law Day, an annual affirmation of the Rule of Law), plus several others around the city, organized and promoted by multiple organizations. They have realized that only through solidarity can they fulfill their individual goals. The overarching message: “Together we win.”

We are the Many. They are the Few. May Day Protest, NYC © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com

Hallie Brenner Perles, co-leader of Show Up Long Island and an organizer of the Long Island protest, stated, “Authoritarians like Trump and Musk want to divide us and to appeal to the smallest, cruelest, and most selfish impulses of humanity. That’s the only way they can win. But we still live in a democracy. And right now we can choose to care, to stand up for each other, to seek truth and facts over lies, to know that an attack on any groups’ human rights is an attack on all. We can choose empathy and the courage to acknowledge these are not normal times so we won’t pretend that they are. We will continue to nonviolently protest all that is wrong with this administration as heroes have done before us. Then some day books will be written that tell our story: that when our country, our children and the world needed us, so many Americans in all 50 states stood together on the right side of history. “

We are the Suns of Liberty. May Day Protest, NYC © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com

“This was by far the largest, most widespread May Day action in the history of our country,” MayDayStrong.org reported. “The billionaires are waging a war on working people—and on May Day, international workers’ day, hundreds of thousands of us stood together and stood strong, fighting for public schools over private profits, healthcare over hedge funds, shared prosperity over free market politics. Working people built this nation and we know how to take care of each other. We won’t back down—we will never stop fighting for our families and the rights and freedoms that ensure access to opportunity and a better life for all Americans. Their time is up.”

No Detentions. No Deportations. May Day Protest, NYC © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com

Numerous protests are upcoming with another national day of protest slated for June 14th organized by 50501.org: They are looking to “amass in spectacular numbers for the “Anti-Regime Day of Protest”  and counter the massive (6600 soldiers! 150 vehicles, 50 helicopters! 2,000 civilians!) and massively expensive ($92 million!) military parade Trump, in true dictator fashion, is organizing for his 79th birthday, even as he orders cuts to Medicaid resulting in hospitals laying off healthcare workers.

Hands Off. May Day Protest, NYC © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com

At its protest in suburban Long Island, Hallie Brenner Perles, co-leader Show Up Long Island, declared, “Authoritarians like Trump and Musk want to divide us and to appeal to the smallest, cruelest, and most selfish impulses of humanity. That’s the only way they can win. But we still live in a democracy. And right now we can choose to care, to stand up for each other, to seek truth and facts over lies, to know that an attack on any groups’ human rights is an attack on all. We can choose empathy and the courage to acknowledge these are not normal times so we won’t pretend that they are. We will continue to nonviolently protest all that is wrong with this administration as heroes have done before us. Then some day books will be written that tell our story: that when our country, our children and the world needed us , so many Americans in all 50 states stood together on the right side of history.”

Let the protesters speak for themselves. Here are highlights from the New York City May Day protest:

TWU’s Civil & Human Rights Committee. May Day Protest, NYC © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com
May Day Protest, NYC © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com
Democracies Don’t Kidnap and Torture Refugees. May Day Protest, NYC © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com
Make the Road. May Day Protest, NYC © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com
Defeat Trump/MAGA Fascism. May Day Protest, NYC © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com
Downtown Nasty Women Social Group. May Day Protest, NYC © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com
Trump is NOT my Commander. May Day Protest, NYC © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com
Save Medicare. May Day Protest, NYC © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com
I Love Immigrant NY. May Day Protest, NYC © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com
Defying Depravity. May Day Protest, NYC © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com
We the People Stand United. May Day Protest, NYC © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com
Stop Repression. May Day Protest, NYC © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com
Vets Against Trump. May Day Protest, NYC © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com
NYC Teacherse: You Won’t Take Our Kids Away! May Day Protest, NYC © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com
Labor Committee to Defend Immigrants. May Day Protest, NYC © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com
May Day Protest, NYC © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com
Laborers International Union. May Day Protest, NYC © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com
Cuts to Health Care Kill! May Day Protest, NYC © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com
No Kings in America! May Day Protest, NYC © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com
Communist Party USA. May Day Protest, NYC © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com
For Sale. May Day Protest, NYC © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com

See also:

Tens of Thousands of Protesters Flood NYC Streets to Tell Trump, Musk, DOGE ‘Hands Off’

Photo Highlights: Thousands March in NYC to Protest for Immigrants, the Planet & Against Autocracy, Fascism

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