President Donald Trump's policies spark protests in multiple US cities
on Labor Day
[September 02, 2025]
By MELINA WALLING and JOSH FUNK
CHICAGO (AP) — Protesters took to the streets in multiple U.S. cities on
Labor Day to criticize President Donald Trump and demand a living wage
for workers.
Demonstrations in Chicago and New York were organized by One Fair Wage
to draw attention to the struggles laborers 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.
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.
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, Illinois, 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.
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.
[to top of second column]
|
Raven Winchell, of Seui 2015 Long Term Care Givers, raises her first
as hundreds gather to protest the Trump Administration while calling
for workers over billionaires in the Mission District in San
Francisco, Calif., Monday, Sept. 1, 2025. (Bronte Wittpenn/San
Francisco Chronicle via AP
“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, Oregon, 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.
___
Associated Press Writers Michael Sisak contributed to this report
from New York and Martha Bellisle contributed from Seattle
All contents © copyright 2025 Associated Press. All rights reserved |
