The Baltimore City streets swelled with protesters on Thursday evening as locals took part in the “Stop the Billionaire Takeover” rally, a nationwide event marking International Workers’ Day.
Ray Baker, the Maryland director for the Baltimore-DC Building Trades Council, revved up a crowd of around 150 people gathered in the 80 degree heat outside Camden Yards.
“Some of you all might have heard there’s a new department in the United States,” shouted Baker to a chorus of boos, as many likely thought he referred to the non-governmental agency run by unelected billionaire Elon Musk called the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). At the behest of DOGE, thousands of federal workers have been laid off as part of the Trump administration’s plan to downsize the federal government.
“No, I’m talking about the people that work for a living,” said Baker to a new chorus of excited applause.
The crowd at Camden Yards was one of seven marches happening across Baltimore that eventually terminated for a final rally at McKeldin Plaza. Event organizers estimated more than a thousand people attended that main rally. While each of the seven smaller marches had a theme– the Camden Yards rally billed itself as a “March for Worker Justice”-- all of the marches seemed to be a protest in some way against recent actions taken by the federal government.
Labor unions have celebrated May Day, or International Workers’ Day, as a day of protest and solidarity since 1889. It began as a commemoration of the 1886 Haymarket Riot in Chicago where police and supporters of an eight-hour workday ended up in a violent confrontation that left at least 11 people killed and dozens more injured.
The day has been met with more attention this year as Americans have watched thousands of federal workers lose their jobs, immigrants have been deported without due process, and anxiety around trade-wars has caused instability in the global markets. Many bore signs demanding the return of Kilmar Abrego-Garcia, the Maryland man wrongfully deported to El Salvador.
Standing near City Hall, Jennifer Blaylock, an organizer with Indivisible Baltimore County, said while people came out for different reasons, the rallygoers agreed on several key issues.
“Our first amendment rights, we need to recognize due process. I feel like we will always find common ground when we go march together and that's what today is all about,” said Blaylock.
Johns Hopkins University PhD Student Mara Lanis arrived to the “Hands Off” protest at Penn Station, one of the seven feeder marches, from a picket held on campus by graduate workers earlier in the day.
She says school leaders haven’t been strongly responding to federal grant cuts and visa threats. “We have a lot of people doing a lot of amazing work that they are either unable to do now because they've been stopped from doing it, or they're it's just becoming much harder, and that shouldn't be happening, because research and education and science are all valuable to everyone,” said Lanis.
Thirty-seven Hopkins students had their immigration statuses revoked by Immigrations and Customs Enforcement in early April. Thirty-six of those have since been restored.
Lanis said Hopkins leaders should take the time now to implement a more robust plan to protect students against future attacks from the Trump administration.
In a statement, Johns Hopkins University wrote the institution “deeply values our international students and staff, and we remain committed to maintaining healthcare, learning, and working environments that allow for the discussion and dialogue essential to academic and community life.”
Baltimore City high school students also attended the rally to fight what one 16-year-old, who preferred to remain anonymous for safety concerns, called “an extreme attack on civil liberties of students.”
“Students have lost access to tutoring programs; we’re seeing a lot of attacks on DEI,” the Baltimore City College attendee said. “So it becomes important for us to fight for our own rights and fight for the rights of our friends and our communities, people that we look in the face every day.”
Some in the crowds expressed that they have felt alone and powerless in the face of actions taken by the Trump administration.
“We want to tamp down people’s fears, we want to make sure people know they are not alone, “ said Nnameke Onemeje, an organizer with United Local 7, which represents hospitality workers. “I want to know that I’m not alone and that people know we are fighting against this oppression.”
Others expressed that the rally has given them an opportunity to learn about organizing efforts and empowered them to learn about ways they can make change.
“I love it that when we are here we can find petitions, we can find more actions. It doesn’t feel like you’re just screaming into the void and then go back home,” said Amara Griffin, who said she plans to advocate Governor Wes Moore take a more active stance in bringing Garcia-Abrego back to the country.
“I’m contacting my representatives, my senators, I’m not letting them off the hook,” said Griffin.
Scott Maucione contributed to this report
