May Day protests held in Bay Area
NBC Bay Area
[{'start': '0.633', 'end': '4.037', 'text': "evening and thanks for being  with us on this Thursday. I'm  Raj Mathai. And I'm Jessica  Aguirre. Right now, hundreds of  people are marching toward San  Jose City Hall as part of a may  day demonstration. May day  rallies are an annual event, but  this year, the tone and the  urgency are very different.  Let's bring in NBC Bay Area's  Robert Honda, who joins us live  at City Hall. And I know you're  waiting for a lot of those folks  to arrive this year. The tone  very much about immigration  policies and a lot of Trump  administration policies. That's  right, Jessica. You know, May  1st, the May day event always  sort of incorporates whatever is  the big topic of the day, even  though it's always focused sort  of on workers rights. Now we are  waiting for the demstrators to  come this march and rally that  they're coming from. Started at  a shopping center in East San  Jose. But a lot of people here  say the protest actually started  around Inauguration Day. With  Liberation. Liberation May day  usually brings out a big crowd  in San Jose. As in the past,  community groups and citizens  rallied at the shopping center  at Story and King Roads before a  three mile march to City Hall.  And many people who consider  themselves activists say civil  rights and freedom are once  again center stage. You go back  to the 67th and 80s. You'd be  surprised how many of the issues  have not changed in that time  frame. So we have to continue  resisting, I guess is the word  for me. Resistance is a good  word and also righteous  indignation. We deserve to be  angry and upset at what's been  going on for the last few  months. Traditionally, the  struggle and rights of workers  are the main focus, but this  year the Trump policies are part  of it. The kinds of attacks that  are happening to working people  are much mor serious. They are  much more violent. People are  being picked up off the street  and taken away to prisons  overseas. In fact, the South Bay  Labor Council says the fight for  workers rights isn't limited to  the Bay Area. I think today we  remember a few things one, the  power of our collective efforts  when we join together to fight  back around bad policies, when  we remember that the South Bay  and that Silicon Valley in  California are uniquely  positioned to fight for the rest  of the vulnerable communities in  the United States. Right now,  one of the main organizers, the  immigrant rights gup Amigos de  Guadalupe of San Jose, says the  community has been waiting for a  chance to speak out. I think it  is our moment. It is our time.  It is our time to speak with one  voice and we are democracy in  action. Now. The relatively  small crowd here is waiting for  the larger crowd to show up, and  we can actually see some of the  police action around their  march. One thing though, it's a  pretty decent sized crowd, but  organizers acknowledge the  reality that it could have been  bigger because they were  contacted by many people who  said that they were afraid to  show up because they were afraid  Ice would show up. So those  immigrants are going to have  left. This going to have to let  this crowd speak for them, and  they probably will. Loud and  clear. Live at San Jose City  Hall Robert Honda, NBC Bay Area  News. Okay. Thank you very much,  Robert. A big turnout in San  Francisco's Mission District for  May day demonstrations and  marches, too. People began  gathering at 24th and mission  around 930 this morning. Now,  the collective demonstration  called for greater support for  immigrant rights, workers  rights, fair wages, and to mass  deportations. One demonstrator  told us they believe these May  day actions are even more  critical this year because, as  we mentioned before, of the  current political climate.  Definitely this year we see less  of the impacted communities, but  I think they're out there  working hard to contribute to  the economy of this nation. And  so we're here on behalf of all  people who feel under attack  right now, including the trans  community, to say, stop our  work, our lives matter. Now,  after gathering in the"}]