May Day rally at Haymarket Monument promotes rights for workers, immigrants

A May Day rally Tuesday drew together hundreds of union members, immigrant activists and other groups calling for worker solidarity at the Haymarket Monument on the Near West Side.

The monument, located at 175 N. Des Plaines Ave., was commissioned in 2004 to honor the seven police officers and four bystanders killed in a bombing and subsequent riot on May 4, 1886. The event, known at the Haymarket Affair, became a pivotal moment in the American labor movement.

Following a series of speakers, the crowd, which included Democratic candidate for governor J.B. Pritzker, marched east on Washington Boulevard to the Thompson Center.