Community, labor, faith and immigrant rights leaders will march today from the Haymarket Memorial in Chicago, marking the 125th anniversary of May Day.
This year’s march in support of immigration and workers rights will begin at 3 p.m. at the Haymarket Memorial, 175 N. Des Plaines St., before ending at the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement offices, 101 W. Congress Parkway. Other groups are marching to the memorial throughout the day to join the demonstration.
Participating groups include the Chicago Teachers Union, Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, SEIU (Service Employees International Union) Illinois Council, Fight for 15, Chicago Jobs with Justice and more.
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May Day is the traditional International Workers’ Day. It now is celebrated around the world, but it started here in Chicago with the “Haymarket affair,” also known as the “Haymarket massacre” or “Haymarket riot.”
What had started in Haymarket Square with a small rally supporting workers striking for an eight-hour day and protesting the killing of several workers the day before by police ended with seven policemen and four demonstrators dead, as well as about 60 more police wounded, according to a post from the NBC Chicago archives. As police asked demonstrators to leave the square, someone threw a bomb into the crowd. “There was a massive explosion and a flurry of gunfire,” according to NBC.
Read more about the commemoration of May Day on NBC Chicago’s website.
Follow our reporter Mitch Dudek and photographer Michael Schmidt covering the marches, as well as others tweeting using the hashtag #ChiMayDay, below:
