Mayday! Mayday! Our Democracy Under Attack!

Photos: Leon Kunstenaar

(San Francisco, May 1, 2025) - People gathered in front of City Hall for the rally celebrating May Day, the worker's holiday created to "honor the martyrs" that is celebrated throughout the world. It originated in Chicago in 1886 when four labor activists were hung for a crime they did not commit.

If there was one sign that summed up the tone of this year's May Day event, it was the one that shouted "MayDay! Mayday! Mayday! our democracy is under attack!" There were many signs on the theme of a democracy in danger and making comparisons to Germany's descent into Nazism.

By world May Day standards, it wasn't huge. Perhaps a couple of thousand people. The last May Day march in Europe that I covered took five hours to pass the place where I stood on a wide Paris boulevard. Americans are just not that political any more. Maybe the trauma of Trump we are beginning to undergo will change all that.

Along with the pro-labor signs and banners, there were many that heaped derision and contempt on Trump. "Fuck Trump" signs were abundant.

The City Hall rally morphed into a march on Market Street heading towards the Embarcadero. As the marchers approached their first stop, the building on Sansome Street housing ICE, a chant of three words, "Trump must go" repeatedly swelled from the crowd. The chant got louder and louder, we almost had a mob. But not quite.

After a short rally, the march headed to the Embarcadero where it dispersed.

See all high resolution photos here.