NEWBURYPORT — The loud thump of sticks smacking against percussive instruments echoed up and down State Street and into Market Square Friday around 2 p.m. as more than 100 hundred people marched into the city’s epicenter as part of the nationwide May Day Strong protest.
In coordination with a May Day general strike taking place nationwide the same day, area activists met at the Bartlet Mall before making their way down State Street sidewalks holding signs high and singing songs strongly. Billed as a day of action alongside other national resistance organizations, May Day Strong organizers asked people to boycott work, school and shopping for the day – as much as is possible. The local rally was organized by the Newburyport Democratic Committee which has been holding weekly protests at the mall.
After forming a circle around a large chunk of the square’s bullnose, NDC member Diana Kerry loudly espoused a message of workers over billionaires, ending wars, abolishing the country’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency and ending the holding of detainees in what she called “cages.”
She went on to implore the protection of United States elections and defending the right to vote.
Councilor at-Large Afroz Khan took a turn at the microphone and spoke about the important of May Day and worker unions.
“Voices can only come through when organized,” Khan said.
Although billed as a rally to support workers, the march appeared to be equally directed at President Donald Trump, his administration and policies. Many of the signs held by protests decried Trump’s apparent indifference towards the average American, how ICE agents are “terrorists,” and restoring America before it becomes a dictatorship.
In her speech, Khan referenced the ongoing war in Iran and Trump’s immigration policy. Spending billions of dollars on both endeavors, she said, was “wrong.”
Newburyport Democrzstic Committee officials, in a statement, said the one-day event is intended as a trial run for future actions – and a way to engage people in the political process.