May Day demonstrations expected to draw thousands of people as left-wingers protest 'billionaires'

The Portland Police Bureau announced Friday night more than a dozen people were arrested in the city following events for the May Day protests taking place around the country.

The bureau said officers responded to a sit-in demonstration in a hotel lobby, where eight people were sitting on the floor, chanting and holding signs related to May Day. Other people were in the lobby supporting the group, but ultimately left.

Police arrested eight people, ranging from 25 years old to 37 years old, for participating in the sit-in after they refused to leave, and another person for second-degree disorderly conduct.

In a different location, demonstrators began preparing for their May Day march by gathering in the South Park Blocks. A 37-year-old woman was arrested and charged with harassment and second-degree disorderly conduct.

The march continued until 5 p.m. EST without incident, according to police, and then officers were directed to protest activity outside the Portland Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) building.

Five more people were arrested and charged with various crimes, including trespassing, criminal mischief, and resisting arrest.

"At times during the evening, members of the crowd threw rocks and water bottles at officers. One officer received a non-life-threatening injury from a large rock and was transported to a local hospital. Another officer was also injured, and was evaluated at the scene by medical," the bureau said.

According to Portland police, 94 people related to ICE protest activity have been arrested since June 2025.

Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., criticized May Day protests Friday, arguing they have become too closely tied to socialist and communist groups.

“It’s ironic,” Fetterman told Fox News’ Jesse Watters. “These kinds of protests are being funded by billionaires against billionaires.”

A Fox News Digital investigation identified a widespread “red-blue” network with roughly $2 billion in annual revenue that organized about 3,000 protests Friday while advancing what critics describe as an anti-American agenda.

Fetterman pointed to what he described as a resurgence of socialism being mixed with other political causes, including the anti-ICE movement.

“That’s sad, because it’s supposed to be about labor, like unions,” he said. “I’m absolutely a proud pro-union Democrat, but the kinds of things you’re seeing are showing up in many of them.”

Fetterman added the trend reflects “the worst impulses” within his party.

“We just can’t seem to resist those things,” he said.

A nonprofit executive said Friday he observed hundreds of children being bused in to participate in May Day protests in Chicago.

Josh Weiner, chief strategy officer of the North American Values Institute, said during an appearance on “Fox News @ Night” that students from Chicago Public Schools were mixed in with political groups, including organizations such as the Freedom Road Socialist Organization.

“We talked to students on the ground who said that their teachers fully supported this,” Weiner said. “One student told me that their ethnic studies class is the reason that they came to the protest.”

Weiner also said some students used expletives directed at President Donald Trump and alleged similar language was used by teachers in classrooms.

“We talk about the political violence that’s going on in this country,” he said. “You can see why right here, when they’re framing America as fascist and authoritarian, and then saying violence is justified by bringing kids out to protest from classes.”

A spokesperson for the Chicago Teachers Union pushed back in a statement.

"Teaching our students what civic action looks like requires more than textbooks when the president sends federal agents to occupy our cities and the governor chooses to continue giving tax breaks to billionaires instead of giving our students the school day they deserve,” the statement read.

Fox News senior correspondent Mike Tobin also spoke with a Chicago Public Schools student, Cody West, who was carrying a “Party for Socialism” sign during a protest.

When asked whether he understood socialism, the student replied, “Not really, not too much.”

West said some teachers told students, “It’s a walkout, you guys can just go — go protest.”

A Chicago Teachers Union organizer confirmed the event had been planned for weeks.

A Los Angeles-based Communist Party group participated in May Day protests across the city on Friday.

The Richard Castro Jr. Club of Southeast Los Angeles, part of the Communist Party USA (CPUSA), said its goal in joining the demonstrations was to show “collective working class power.”

“The Communist Party joined coalitions, labor unions, and community organizations in Los Angeles for May Day to show our collective working class power and unity in this city!” the group wrote on X.

“The people united can never be defeated!” it added.

Members of the Communist Party USA were also visible at May Day demonstrations in other cities, including Minneapolis, where they gathered in large numbers.

Austin City Council Member Zohaib “Zo” Qadri joined a May Day event Friday, showing the city’s growing alignment with progressive labor activism.

Qadri, who identifies as a “progressive Democrat,” posted, “Rain or shine, Austin runs on labor,” as he attended the gathering.

A photo attached to the post shows Qadri alongside union supporters with political signage including a “Talarico for Texas” display visible at a nearby booth.

Qadri framed the day around worker advocacy, writing that May Day is about recognizing “the dignity” of labor.

Austin has increasingly emerged as a hub for left-leaning politics within Texas in recent years.

San Francisco Supervisor Bilal Mahmood joined labor unions and left-wing activists Friday for May Day protests in the city amid national unrest.

Mahmood marched alongside demonstrators carrying “Workers Over Billionaires” signs and union banners, including from IBEW Local 6, according to photos from the event.

“Today, I joined our labor unions to march… to stand with all our workers in San Francisco,” Mahmood wrote on X.

The District 5 supervisor said he spoke with 911 dispatchers, drivers and public health workers during the rally, praising them as essential to keeping the city running.

Mahmood emphasized the need to “center and uplift” workers’ voices, thanking them for their contributions to the city.

San Francisco, known as a far-left stronghold, has long been a focal point for labor-backed demonstrations and progressive political messaging.

Police negotiators continue working to convince an anti-Trump agitator to get off a 168-foot-tall bridge in Washington, D.C. amid nationwide May Day protests.

Just after 3 p.m. local time, the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) confirmed it is responding to a "barricade situation" involving a man who walked on top of the Frederick Douglass Memorial Bridge.

Nearly six hours later, the department said the situation is still ongoing.

The man, who News2Share identified as Guido Reichstadter, allegedly planned the stunt in advance and is doing so in protest of the war with Iran.

Reichstadter previously mounted the bridge to protest abortion access in 2022, according to the outlet.

Video appeared to show Reichstadter with an assembled tent near the edge of the top of the bridge, waving a large fabric streamer.

MPD said some lanes have reopened, as negotiators remain at the scene.

It is unclear if any criminal charges will be filed once the standoff concludes.

Protesters marched east along Lake Street in South Minneapolis on Friday afternoon, with the crowd growing into the high hundreds, approaching 1,000 people, before pausing near Bloomington Avenue around 6 p.m. local time.

Socialist and activist groups made up a large portion of the procession, with participants affiliated with the Freedom Road Socialist Organization carrying flags including a transgender pride flag, a Freedom Road flag, a flag associated with the Islamic Republic and Palestinian flags.

Members of the Communist Party USA were also visible in the march, gathering in large numbers behind those groups as the procession moved through the corridor.

Signs throughout the crowd included messages such as “Workers Over Billionaires,” “Stop the War,” “Educators for Palestine,” “Fight Trump’s Agenda,” and “F–k ICE,” reflecting a wide range of political causes.

Chants calling for a “revolution” and “Hey, hey, ho, ho, border wall has got to go” echoed as demonstrators moved through the area.

High-visibility marshals affiliated with protest groups were seen directing the march and blocking side streets, while little to no visible police presence was observed along the route

Members of radical socialist and communist groups took to the streets in Minneapolis on May Day to denounce capitalism and the American political system, with some protesters openly praising authoritarian regimes and defending donations from wealthy billionaires.

A protester named Andy Koch, representing the Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO), told Fox News Digital the U.S. is "run by billionaires" and should instead be run by working people.

However, when asked about Neville Roy Singham, an American tycoon living in China who reportedly funds various protest organizations, Koch quickly defended the financial backing.

"If one billionaire out of like, you know, all of them wants to donate to progressive pro-worker causes, that's great," Koch said, dismissing concerns about the hypocrisy of a socialist group taking billionaire cash.

When asked for examples of successful socialist countries, the FRSO member praised the current Chinese Communist Party, saying "China's doing pretty good right now."

He also glorified the former Soviet Union for having "done a lot for its people" and claimed that life in Cuba was "night and day" compared to Haiti.

Members of the Revolutionary Communists of America (RCA) were also out in force, with one Minneapolis protester claiming they were "radicalized" in 2020 after watching the death of George Floyd.

The RCA member called for an end to capitalism and praised the USSR for creating housing and food security, though they admitted the Soviet regime ultimately collapsed.

"We're calling for down with Trump and down with the Democrats," the member told Fox News Digital.

The group accused both major parties of supporting "backward imperialist ideas," including wars in Ukraine and Iran, as well as the "genocide of the Palestinian people."

Unlike the FRSO, the RCA representative attempted to distance the group from wealthy donors like Singham, insisting they do not receive corporate or billionaire donations and remain "100% class independent" by relying on member dues and paper sales.

Fox News Digital's Michael Dorgan contributed to this report.

During a May Day rally in Chicago, several demonstrators — including students participating in a walkout encouraged by teachers — struggled to explain the core ideologies they were championing, according to on-the-ground reporting by Fox News senior correspondent Mike Tobin.

Tobin spoke with a Chicago Public Schools student, Cody West, who was carrying a "Party for socialism" sign.

When Tobin asked the student if he believed in or knew what socialism was, West admitted, "not really, not too much."

West mentioned that some teachers told students "it's a walkout, you guys can just go, go protest."

A Chicago Teachers Union organizer confirmed they had been putting the event together for weeks.

When pressed on the fact that students were supposed to be in class, the organizer defended the walkout as a way to "develop their civics" and show them "what it's like to be humane."

One protester, holding a "Cleanup Aisle 47" sign, claimed President Donald Trump is "giving money to billionaires" and has "taken billions from the U.S. government."

When she was asked to name the billionaires or provide proof that he had taken billions, she deflected, saying, "If I could pull up the stats right now, I would."

Tobin interviewed another protester who claimed the recent assassination attempt on the president at the White House Correspondents' dinner was "staged."

When asked why they believed it was staged, the protester could not provide evidence, saying, "I don't know, it all just seems too suspect to me," before refusing to answer further questions.

A massive, highly coordinated network of radical protesters, backed by billions in funding and alleged ties to foreign adversaries, is using American freedoms as a "Trojan horse" to dismantle the country, Fox News Digital’s Asra Nomani reported after observing the Washington, D.C. May Day protest.

Describing the experience as being like a "war correspondent in my own country," Nomani’s firsthand account of demonstration revealed an army of "professional protesters" who she said are pushing a corrosive, anti-capitalist ideology. 

The streets were filled with foot soldiers representing groups like Refuse Fascism, the Party for Socialism and Liberation and Code Pink. Steps from the White House, demonstrators brazenly flew the flags of autocratic regimes and recognized U.S. adversaries Including the Islamic Republic of Iran, Venezuela, Cuba, North Korea, China and Palestine.

“They want to bring to America a system that has failed across the world," Nomani said, adding that protesters held signs reading, "Trump is the symptom, capitalism is the disease" and shouted for activists to assassinate the president.

The scale of the movement is far from a purely grassroots operation, according to Nomani. The broader nonprofit network encompasses roughly 600 organizations boasting $2 billion in collective revenues, which have unleashed 6,000 events across the nation.

A key figure highlighted in the financial web is Neville Roy Singham, who is accused of funding the operation to do the bidding of the Chinese Communist Party.

Nomani warned that the very freedoms that define the U.S. have become its "Achilles’ heel," allowing a foreign-linked enemy to march unchecked within its own borders.

She added if the government does not investigate and dismantle the nonprofit infrastructure allowing the groups to operate, "this country will not be recognizable in the decades to come.”

Crowds at the main May Day rally site in South Minneapolis grew to several hundred Friday afternoon, with a visible presence of socialist groups alongside labor unions and other activists.

Members of the Communist Party were seen distributing newspapers and leaflets to attendees, including a publication titled The Communist with the headline “Down with Trump’s War!” and flyers calling for participation in May Day protests.

The rally drew a mix of groups, including Indigenous activists performing traditional dances in full regalia, alongside labor organizers and political activist groups.

Signs in the crowd shared messaging opposing ICE and President Donald Trump, including “Fuera ICE” and “Fight Trump’s Agenda,” as well as slogans calling for “care, not warfare” and opposing conflict with Iran.

Chants of “Hey, hey, ho, ho, border wall has got to go” broke out between speakers.

A small number of elected officials were also present, where presenters read out a resolution marking May Day.

The growing turnout and range of messaging reflected the broad coalition participating in this year’s May Day demonstrations under the theme “Workers Over Billionaires.”

One Fair Wage representative Elvis Diaz traveled to the May Day protest Friday to advocate for a $30 minimum wage across all industries in Los Angeles.

Diaz described the $30 ask to Fox News Digital as a "fair living wage."

"Go to any worker in Los Angeles and [ask] them if they can afford to live in this city," Diaz said. "Go ahead and look at their bank accounts. Look at their savings. Look [at] how much they're spending on food and groceries."

"In Los Angeles, gas itself [has] skyrocketed," he continued. "... These workers are suffering day to day. It's very important that they get a higher minimum wage."

California's state minimum wage is $16.90 per hour. Georgia and Wyoming have the lowest state minimum wages at $5.15 per hour.

A $30 wage would amount to $62,400 yearly for a standard 40-hour work week.

Fox News Digital's Louis Casiano contributed to this report.

May Day demonstrators gathered outside the San Francisco International Airport with megaphones and whistles demanding a $30 minimum wage as part of the ongoing nationwide pro-labor protests.

The group could be heard shouting “ICE out of SFO," among other chants.

Airport officials said the international terminal departure level road was temporary closed to vehicle traffic "in order to safely accommodate free speech activity."

It later reopened to regular traffic, though the airport noted travelers should allow extra time for residual delays "due to ongoing first amendment activity."

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani presented an intense May Day speech amid nationwide rallies on Friday, pushing a sweeping progressive agenda that includes taxing the city's wealthiest residents and shielding individuals from federal immigration enforcement.

During the pro-labor rally, Mamdani touted his administration's efforts to put "working people right at the heart" of his democratic socialist agenda, taking aim at what he called "mega corporations" that he claims are ripping off workers and small businesses.

The mayor promised to fight for "universal child care," faster buses, cheaper groceries, and "protecting our neighbors from the cruelty of ICE."

To fund the initiatives, Mamdani openly said he is "working to tax the wealthiest and the most profitable corporations in New York City."

The mayor emphasized his solidarity with labor unions throughout the speech, boasting about his past appearances on the picket line alongside striking nurses and Starbucks workers.

"There is no New York City without unions," Mamdani told the crowd.

He concluded the address by quoting American Federation of Labor (AFL) founder Samuel Gompers before leading the rally-goers in a repeated "Union strong" chant.

Gombers advocated against partisanship, particularly resisting Socialist influence within the labor movement.

Former Los Angeles mayor and California gubernatorial candidate Antonio Villaraigosa braved the heat to join the nationwide May Day rallies on Friday, telling Fox News Digital his motivation was to celebrate workers and "protect our democracy."

"Today on May Day we celebrate the people who put food on our table, people who take care of our kids and our elders, people who work as security officers and janitors," Villaraigosa said. "We're here to say we need an economy that's working for more people."

"There are too many people who work every every single day, they're not on welfare, ... and they can't make ends meet," he continued. "They can't pay for rent, they can't buy a home. Gas prices and utility costs are out of reach for them. We celebrate these people who have sacrificed to make our economy better [and] our country stronger."

Another topic highlighted by activists marching in Los Angeles is immigration enforcement, with protesters fighting against the Trump administration's strict border and deportation policies.

"We also are marching to protect our democracy," Villaraigosa said. "To say that every country has a right to secure its borders, but they should do so humanely. That we shouldn't be ripping children from the arms of their parents. We shouldn't be able to go into schools and hospitals and courthouses and places of work without a warrant."

He added he believes detention centers should be "protecting the health and safety of people," alleging that instead, detainees are "sleeping on the floor, crowded among one another, and dying in [large] numbers."

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) reported 46 deaths in its custody or detention facilities since the start of the second Trump administration in January 2025.

There are 68,000 illegal immigrants being held in detention centers as of February, a more than 70% increase from the 39,000 who were being held at the end of the Biden administration in December 2024, according to the KFF, an independent research organization.

Fox News Digital's Louis Casiano contributed to this report.

A small group of activists affiliated with the Minnesota Immigrant Rights Action Committee (MIRAC) was seen setting up at the main May Day rally site in South Minneapolis more than two hours before the event was scheduled to begin.

The group appeared to be organizing materials out of vehicles in a nearby parking lot, including signs, water supplies and equipment such as bullhorns and high-visibility vests.

Sticker messaging visible on bullhorns at the scene included phrases such as “Stand with our families,” “F--- ICE,” “Free Palestine,” “No human being is illegal,” and “F--- the border.”

A flatbed truck and a separate newer rental-style truck were also present, with organizers unloading gear and preparing for the afternoon rally.

The older truck was draped with large banners reading “20th Annual March for International Workers’ Day,” with the same message in Spanish on the reverse, while the newer truck appeared to be outfitted with large speakers.

One protester at the scene was seen filming while draped in a hybrid flag combining LGBTQ Pride colors with the former Soviet Union (USSR) flag, he told Fox News Digital.

The early setup suggests organized preparations ahead of the larger demonstration expected later in the day at Chicago Avenue and East Lake Street.

Lou Villalvazo, a Los Angeles May Day protester representing Teamsters Local 630, told Fox News Digital he joined the rally because he feels the government has "overlooked the American worker.

"Every year it gets harder and harder for people to survive," Villalvazo said. "... It's not about Democrat or Republican. It's us against the billionaires. They're buying our government. They're buying these politicians. We're done with it because at the end of the day, they don't relate to the worker. ... We're going to march for all workers, for everybody's rights. Nobody's illegal on stolen land."

He went on to label the government "fascist" and call President Donald Trump a "wanna-be dictator who doesn't know anything about putting gas in your car [or] paying for rent."

"It's not about red and blue," Villalvazo said. "It's us against the billionaires. ... Wake up America."

Fox News Digital's Louis Casiano contributed to this report.