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CHICAGO — Protesters took to the streets in multiple U.S. cities on Labour Day to criticize President Donald Trump and demand a living wage for workers.
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Demonstrations in Chicago and New York were organized by One Fair Wage to draw attention to the struggles labourers face in the U.S., where the federal minimum wage is $7.25 an hour. Chants of “Trump must go now!” echoed outside the president’s former home in New York, while protesters gathered outside a different Trump Tower in Chicago, yelling “No National Guard” and “Lock him up!” Large crowds also gathered in Washington D.C. and San Francisco.
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In New York, people gathered outside Trump Tower, which has become a magnet for protests and remains a prominent symbol of the president’s wealth, even though the president hasn’t lived in the Manhattan skyscraper for years. Demonstrators waved signs and banners calling for an end to what they said is a fascist regime.
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In Washington, a large crowd gathered with signs saying “Stop the ICE invasion” and an umbrella painted with “Free D.C. No masked thugs.” Hundreds more gathered at protests along the West Coast to fight for the rights of immigrants and workers.
Multiple groups joined together at the protests in Chicago to listen to speeches and lend their voices to the chants.
“We’re here because we’re under attack. We’re here because our core values and our democracy is under attack. We are here because they are threatening to send the military into our streets,” Daniel Biss, the mayor of Evanston, Ill., told the crowd in Chicago as he urged them to stand up for workers.
At one point, a woman got out of a vehicle with Iowa plates in Chicago to shout “Long live Donald Trump” over and over again, resulting in a brief confrontation as the protesters responded with shouts of their own until the woman left a few minutes later.
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In the crowd, Ziri Marquez said she came out because she’s concerned about overlapping issues in the U.S. and around the world, decrying anti-migrant attitudes in the U.S. and the deaths of Palestinians in Gaza.
“I think especially, you know, when we’re dealing with low wages and we’re dealing with a stagnant economy, immigrants are largely used as a scapegoat,” said Marquez, 25.
Along the West Coast from San Diego up to Seattle, hundreds gathered at rallies to call for a stop to the “billionaire takeover.”
Groups supporting federal workers and unions marched in Los Angeles; San Francisco; and Portland, Ore., in support of workers rights. Rally organizer May Day Strong said on its website that “billionaires are stealing from working families, destroying our democracy and building private armies to attack our towns and cities.”
They called on people to take collective action to stop the takeover.
Portland protester Lynda Oakley of Beaverton told Oregolive.com that her frustrations with health care, immigration and Social Security inspired her to join the march.
“I am done with what’s happening in our country,” she said.
King County Councilmember Teresa Mosqueda, who took part in a demonstration at Seattle’s Cascade Playground, told KOMO News that they wanted to send a message of workers above billionaires.
“Workers should be more powerful than the small billionaire class,” she said.
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