Demonstrators gathering in downtown Phoenix for May Day rally

PHOENIX – Protests are scheduled around Arizona and the U.S. on Thursday for the annual May Day National Day of Action.

A demonstration against billionaires who are concentrating power under the Trump administration is being held in downtown Phoenix.

“We are asking people to come out in a peaceful, nonviolent protest,” Erika Andiola, political director for the National Day Labor Organization Network, told KTAR New 92.3 FM recently. “We will be prepared to ensure that we are keeping everybody safe, and we are asking everyone who was coming out to understand that we are … showing our voice and lifting our voice without violence and peacefully letting those at the top know that we are tired.”

Demonstrators were planning to march from the Arizona State Capitol at 9 a.m. to the Sandra Day O’Connor U.S. Courthouse for a rally.

“We will be demanding all these billionaires and … their political friends who are currently in power to step aside and to give people the power that we deserve as Arizonans and as Americans in this country,” Andiola said.

Eleven Arizona labor organizations were planning to participate.

“What we want this administration and their billionaire friends to see is that people will come out, … that that we do have power when we come together, regardless of what our background is, regardless of our gender identity, our race, our sex,” Andiola said.

May Day is a public holiday in some countries

The roots of May Day, or International Workers Day, stretch back over a century.

In some countries, it is a public holiday honoring labor.

But activists planning marches in the U.S. say much of their message is about fighting back against President Donald Trump’s policies targeting immigrants, federal workers and diversity programs.

KTAR News 92.3 FM’s Colton Krolak and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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