Reuters - May 1, 2000
May Day Protests Target U.S. Financial Districts
By Brad Schade Reuters
CHICAGO (May 1) - Hundreds of May Day demonstrators took to the streets in U.S. financial centers on Monday protesting political and economic exploitation and demanding amnesty for illegal immigrants.
In New York, where 600 massed at Union Square, police arrested 19 people calling themselves anarchists. In Chicago, where the May Day protest movement was born 114 years ago in pursuit of the eight-hour work day, about 200 people marched through the downtown area in a peaceful protest.
The U.S. protests were part of a worldwide wave of May Day activities that saw marches and scattered violence.
The arrests in New York were made after police said the demonstrators had violated a state law against obscuring one's face during a demonstration. Police at the scene also said the action was prompted by the fact that some of the demonstrators were dressed in garb similar to that worn by activists at tumultuous World Trade Organisation demonstrations in Seattle.
They were charged variously with loitering and resisting arrest.
In flyers handed out on the scene, the anarchists said they were protesting against ''corporate tyranny'' and against the WTO, the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.
In Chicago more than 200 people carrying banners and chanting ''People Before Profit'' rallied outside the Chicago Board of Trade, several miles from the site of the Haymarket Square massacre, a landmark in 19th century May Day-related history.
The group's signs referred to the exchange, the world's oldest futures exchange, as the ''Chicago Board of Traitors.'' They then began a march through the downtown area that was to last much of the day.
In New York, many of the demonstrators were chanting ''Amnesty Now!'' in Spanish to demand immigration amnesty for illegal aliens so they can receive benefits such as Social Security, passports and health care.
''There is a double standard in U.S. immigration law. The government knows undocumented people are working and paying taxes, but when it comes time to get any benefits, such as collecting Social Security or tax returns, the government says no, you're illegal,'' said Edison Severino, business agent for local 78 of the Laborers International Union of North America, which represents 2,400 hazardous waste laborers in New York.
March organisers said they expected a few thousand protesters in total to a march from Union Square to City Hall.
There was a strong police presence lining the route and in the Wall Street financial district, which protest organizers also said could be a target of the day's demonstrations. Traffic slowed and police in riot gear directed traffic.
The New York Stock Exchange said it was open for business as usual, but would remain in close touch with police and take appropriate action if there was any change in the situation.
The Chicago May Day Coalition said it planned ''a series of actions to oppose economic and political exploitation and repression, and celebrate May Day's spirit of resistance,'' a statement from the group said.
A spokesman for the Chicago Board of Trade said the exchange was ''working closely with the Chicago police department for an orderly demonstration.''
As a precaution, the exchange said it was closing its visitors gallery, which overlooks the trading floors. The Chicago Mercantile Exchange also closed its gallery, while the New York Stock Exchange said its visitors gallery would remain open.
Protesters in Chicago said they would march along the original route of a landmark May Day demonstration in the late 1880s.
In the 1886 Haymarket labor protest, a bomb was thrown that killed eight policemen and wounded about 65 others. Four protesters were convicted of the killings and executed the following year.
Reuters 14:49 05-01-00