Russians wave flags and cheer as they walk on Red Square to mark May Day in Moscow, Russia. (AP)
Los Angeles — Hundreds of May Day marchers chanting slogans and carrying signs — and at least one Donald Trump piñata — took to the streets of Los Angeles on Sunday calling for immigrant and worker rights and decrying what they see as hateful presidential campaign rhetoric.
It’s one of several events in cities nationwide to call for better wages for workers, an end to deportations and support for an Obama administration plan to give work permits to immigrants in the country illegally whose children are American citizens.
“We want them to hear our voices, to know that we are here and that we want a better life, with jobs,” said Norberto Guiterrez, a 46-year-old immigrant from Mexico who joined families, union members and students who marched through downtown.
Demonstrators repeatedly called out Trump for his remarks about immigrants, workers and women. The leading Republican presidential contender has called for a wall on the border with Mexico and chided Democratic hopeful Hillary Clinton for playing the so-called “woman card.”
“In addition to fighting for workers’ rights, we are fighting for our dignity this time around, our self-respect,” said Jorge-Mario Cabrera, a spokesman for the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles.
In Russia, tens of thousands of people marched across Moscow’s Red Square on a sunny Sunday morning in a pro-Kremlin workers’ rally. The protesters were carrying the Russian tricolor and balloons.
As is typical for rallies organized by the ruling United Russia party, the May Day rally steered clear of criticizing President Vladimir Putin or his government for falling living standards. The slogans focused on wages and jobs for young professionals.
In Eastern Ukraine, three deaths were reported Sunday in the fighting despite a recently brokered armistice for Orthodox Easter.
Government forces and Russia-backed separatists had agreed to observe a ceasefire with the start of the Orthodox Easter and May Day holidays.
Fearing France’s worker protections are under threat, hundreds of angry youths on the sidelines of a May Day labor rally hurled stones and wood at police in Paris, receiving repeated bursts of tear gas in response.
Trade unions, teenagers, pensioners and families held nearly 300 largely peaceful marches Sunday in Paris and cities around the country.