Ten thousand sprited protestors staged one of the largest May Day marches ever in LA. Drawn together by the ongoing attacks on immigrants that have gotten more intense since 9-11, day laborers, janitors, garment workers and other proletarians marched shoulder-to-shoulder with students, revolutionaries and immigrant and workers' rights advocates in the mainly-Latino demonstration. In addition to Mexico and Central America, there were contingents of Filipino, Korean, Chinese and Puerto Rican immigrants. A cacophony of percussion from Korean drummers, homemade noisemakers and Aztec dancers echoed down Broadway during the march to the LA Civic Center. Many marchers wore blue triangles with the names of those who have been disappeared by the government, using the events of September 11 as a pretext for racial profiling and roundups of Arabs and South Asians. Others demanded an end to immigration raids, and justice for immigrant workers.
Photos from May Day LA 2002: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10.
Orange County May Day events were much smaller though no less exciting for this reporter. Photos from OC: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6.
And in an flexible interpretation of May First, Pasadena City College held its May Day events on May 2nd. Photos from PCC: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.
[ Early Reportback from the Big March ]
