May Day in San José Marks 20 Years Since El Gigante

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Fight Back News estimated that this year 1500 people gathered for the annual May Day march in San José. They write: "This year marked 20 years since May Day was revived in the U.S. with the 2006 immigrant rights megamarches in protest of the racist, anti-immigrant Sensenbrenner bill."

Varied sources estimate that from 200,000 to 250,000 marched in San José on May 1, 2006.

The Sensenbrenner bill was the Border Protection, Anti-terrorism, and Illegal Immigration Control Act of 2005, a bill in the 109th United States Congress. It was passed by the United States House of Representatives on December 16, 2005 but did not pass the Senate. The bill was the catalyst for the giant 2006 U.S. immigration reform protests across the U.S.

This year's march in San José started at the intersection of King and Story, the same location as did El Gigante, a name the mega march took on in 2006 due to the huge number of participants. Unions, immigrant rights groups, and demonstrators calling for an end to the genocide in Gaza were amongst those marching this year.