May Day with the Rude Mechanical Orchestra

Photos by Stacie Joy 

From May Day yesterday... a set by the Rude Mechanical Orchestra in Tompkins Square Park, followed by a through-the-streets march to Sara D. Roosevelt Park on the LES...

May Day march down 2nd Avenue

[Photo by Bill the Libertarian Anarchist]

Two protests came together this afternoon, the May Day Parade and Rally and a demonstration by Disarm NYPD, which included a protest in solidarity with demonstrators in Baltimore speaking out against the death of Freddie Gray.

The rally started in Union Square ... then headed south down Second Avenue toward Foley Square... EVG reader Michael Rosenthal photographed the different groups who made up today's march from Second Avenue and East Ninth Street ...

























As Newsweek reported earlier this evening, "Barricades were used to keep protesters from taking over the entire street and there was a notable police presence. At least one person was detained by officers, though whether or not they were charged for any wrongdoing remains unclear."

Updated

Here are a few more photos of the May 1st Coalition for Worker & Immigrant Rights/Freddie Gray Rally leaving Union Square ... via James and Karla Murray…

Annual May Day rally at Union Square will include Freddie Gray protesters

You probably noticed the barriers that the NYPD put up yesterday along Second Avenue…



It was done ahead of the annual May Day rally, which has expanded this year to include Freddie Gray protesters...



The rally starts in Union Square.

According to CBS New York:

The May 1st Coalition for Worker & Immigrant Rights is organizing Friday’s rally and march in Manhattan. The rally will take place at 3:30 p.m. and be followed by a march to Foley Square at 5:30 p.m.

“We stand in solidarity with Baltimore in the wake of the most recent killing of Freddie Gray at the hands of Baltimore police. We are still trying to come to grips with the savage killing of Walter Scott killed in South Carolina, shot in the back running away from a police officer who decided to murder Scott in cold blood,” said Charles Jenkins, co-coordinator of the May 1st Coalition.

“This year’s event is dedicated to the struggle against police terror given the deep crisis for black and Latino youth,” said Teresa Gutierrez, co-coordinator of the May 1st Coalition.

Find more details at the Facebook event page.

Report: May Day march through East Village leads to several arrests

[Via EVG friend Heidi on Facebook]

May Day began around 9 a.m. ... as the NYPD arrived at Tompkins Square Park... ahead of the march to Union Square that was to commemorate International Worker's Day.

By 1 p.m., per those in Tompkins Square Park, about 100-125 people had peacefully gathered for the rally...



According to accounts in The New York Times and on Gothamist, the group started walking north on Avenue A around 2 p.m. ... when we received these photos from a tipster showing people heading east down East 11th Street...





Per Colin Moynihan at the Times:

At 11th Street, the marchers suddenly turned east and began running in the roadway, some of them brandishing red and black flags. The police gave chase. At Avenue C and 12th Street, an officer tried to grab a black banner with the words “Never Work” from a man, who scrambled away.

Several people taking part in the rally were reportedly arrested here.

The group reassembled and continued to East 14th Street, where they turned to keep going toward Union Square...

At Second Avenue, the crowd turned north and a moment later a police commander wearing a white shirt began moving briskly toward a young man wearing a black hooded sweatshirt and walking on the sidewalk.

Then more than a dozen other officers, some uniformed and others in plain clothes, plunged into the crowd of marchers, grabbing and arresting at least three additional protesters, shoving others against a wall and pushing news photographers.

Gothamist captured part of this scene on video:



According to Gothamist, the group, "followed by at least 100 NYPD officers on scooters, in vans, and on foot, then marched to Union Square without incident."

Read the Gothamist story here. Find the Times article here.

Depending on the source, either five or six people were arrested.

Throughout the rest of the day, many people noted the presence of helicopters buzzing about the neighborhood...

Video from yesterday's Occupy Lower East Side

Participants from Occupy Wall Street/May Day gathered yesterday afternoon in Sara Roosevelt Park on East Houston at Chrystie... (The Lo-Down has a report on it here.)

There were some skirmishes with the NYPD... captured here on this video now making the rounds...

May Day this afternoon at Union Square

Well, all sorts of various Occupy Wall Street May Day marches eventually filtered into Union Square this afternoon for a "permitted" rally and musical performances ... there are reports of arrests throughout the city ... Here is Tim Pool of TimCast with streaming live video ...

Meanwhile, The Lo-Down has a report here about Occupy Lower East Side, where the NYPD reportedly arrested several people.

The photos below are by Bobby Williams ...

2 scenes from Union Square this morning

Police barricades are up around Union Square pre-May Day events... the barricades stretch east to Irving Place.

Via the EV Grieve Twitter account.

Here is a schedule of all the "Permitted and Unpermitted May Day 2012 Actions" via the Occupy Wall Street site.