May Day rally expands to broad anti-Trump protest in Baltimore, across the nation

Tunde Salaam, in his fifth year of an apprenticeship with the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 24, came out to Camden Yards Thursday evening to march for worker justice and against what he sees as the Trump administration’s anti-union policies.

“Worker rights, union rights are under attack,” said Salaam, 34, who said he came to the May Day march “to support my fellow workers” who he said have been hammered by decades of stagnant wages and offshoring of jobs.

But the march that brought hundreds to the stadium was just one of several “feeder marches” that started in different parts of Baltimore and all converged at the Inner Harbor for a citywide rally in recognition of the May Day protests. Others marched for schools, for immigrant justice, for Palestine, but they all came together at the Inner Harbor under one premise: To oppose the Trump administration and “stop the billionaire takeover.”

More than 1,000 people gathered at the Baltimore rally, waving protest signs, singing and chanting their opposition to President Donald Trump (R) and billionaire Tesla owner Elon Musk, whose Department of Goverment Efficiency (DOGE) Service has careened through the federal government, slashing jobs and shuttering agencies.

The gathering in Baltimore was one of more than 1,000 May Day rallies that organizers said were scheduled across the country Thursday.

“The public is mad,” said Beverly Clevidence, 77, who said she only started joining political demonstrations months ago. “We’re banding together about many things – about labor, about civic services, about education.”

Other than some angry comments from drivers passing by, there weren’t any notable counterprotests around the gathering. Meanwhile, there was plenty of honking  and shouting from drivers in support of the protest.

Many of the grievances at the May Day rally were related to the Trump administration’s rapid cuts to funding and programs in an effort to reduce federal spending.

Cristina Duncan Evans, the Teacher Chapter Chair of the Baltimore Teachers Union, said that federal cuts to education and various policy changes are creating a difficult learning environment for kids.

“We’re seeing cuts from the federal government, we’re seeing ongoing issues in the school district, and we’re here showing up to show the strength of unions, the strength of educators and to connect with all of the other issues that people are bringing,” said Duncan Evans, who previously worked as a social studies teacher and a library media specialist.

“We’ve also seen a radical redefinition of civil rights that is an attack on African American students … and an attack on transgender students,” she said, “and we’re standing up for all of our students, all of our families and all of our staff.”

Many of the protesters where angry at the administration’s crackdown on undocumented residents. Kathleen Carlson, 31, an immigration lawyer, was at the protest to stand up for her clients who are “terrified” of Trump’s aggressive immigration policies.

“We’re all workers, and a large number of immigrants provide labor — provide poorly-paid labor, unpaid labor — and they get taken advantage of by corporations and individuals,” she said. “They deserve the same rights as every other citizen.”

Angela Clark, 26, with a youth-led climate activist group, the Sunrise Movement, said that the theme of the rally was “the workers versus the billionaire class.”

“‘Big Oil and Big Pharma, the people ruining the environment, are part of that billionaire class,” Clark said. “Our messaging right now is not necessarily ‘end climate change,’ it’s ‘stop billionaires from ruining our climate.’”

Some of the nonworker-focused protest signs demanded protections for transgender kids and adults, urged the administration to return erroneously deported Maryland resident Kilmar Abrego Garcia, and pushed for protecting Palestinian lives amid the Israel-Hamas war.

“The crowd is huge,” Clark said. “I think it’s great that we started with six different marches, all with different causes. And we’re all congregating here with one real unified message: Stop the billionaire class from messing everything up for us.”