Bernie Sanders headlines May Day rally in Philly as anti-Trump protests take place across region; protesters arrested for blocking street

Railing against “tax breaks for billionaires” and issuing a warning to Pennsylvania lawmakers, 83-year-old Sen. Bernie Sanders delivered a firebrand speech to a crowd clustered outside City Hall Thursday afternoon.

On a day of national May Day protests against President Donald Trump’s administration that ended with the arrest of about 50 protesters a few blocks from City Hall, the former presidential candidate said, “The American people by the millions are saying no to oligarchy, no to Trump’s authoritarianism.”

After his speech, several hundred marched north on Broad Street, and some of them sat down at Broad and Vine Streets, chanting “we shall not be moved.” After being warned that they would be subject to arrest, a few dozen were led away in handcuffs, shouting, “We are the union, the mighty, mighty union.”

After issuing three warnings, police began arresting protesters at Broad and Vine.

Dozens of protesters remained seated on the road as police issued warnings and formed a barricade around the group. Amid the activity, participants chanted, "Solidarity forever, for the union makes us strong." 

Officers picked up protesters one by and and handcuffed them. Those arrested would be taken to the 22nd District, police said, but it was not immediately clear if citations would be issued.

Elly McNelis, 77, a retired member of American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees sat on a mesh lawn chair in front of U.S. Rep Brian Fitzpatrick's office Thursday evening in solidarity with May Day, which is historically about support for unions.

McNelis was born in America but spent a few years of her childhood in the Dominican Republic for her parents' jobs, and remembers what it was like residing under a dictatorship.

"We should not be so negative against people coming to this country. This is what we were built on. We were built on being free and having freedom, and we need to keep our freedom and keep our democracy and believe in our Constitution. This country is awesome."

As marchers continued their demonstration in Center City, police blocked the street at Broad and Vine, prompting some protesters to sit down in the road at the intersection.

"We shall not be moved," demonstrators chanted. 

The crowd of marchers stood at about 1,500 people, police said. One officer told a reporter that if protesters remained in the roadway "for an extended period of time," police would have to make arrests.

Demonstrators gathered at City Hall late Thursday afternoon as 83-year-old Sen. Bernie Sanders delivered a firebrand speech railing against “tax breaks for billionaires” and issuing a warning to Pennsylvania lawmakers.

On a day of national May Day protests against President Donald Trump’s administration, the Vermont independent and former presidential candidate shouted, “The American people by the millions are saying no to oligarchy, no to Trump’s authoritarianism.”

Sanders’ speech came near the end of day-long demonstrations held in several locations around the region, and hundreds around the nation, many organized online under the hashtags #buildtheresistance and #50501, which stands for 50 protests, 50 states, one day.

Sadness and frustration are just some of the words that come to mind for Lisa DeVicaris, 66, of Bensalem, who has become a weekly staple of a local group of Democrats who routinely protest in front of Fitzpatrick’s office on Fridays.

But on Thursday, DeVicaris has more companions than usual as Bucks Countians gather on the Langhorne sidewalk to protest Fitzpatrick and the Trump administration’s immigration policies for May Day.

DeVicaris set up a spread on the grassy hill near the Newtown Bypass Thursday. She has a table, an umbrella, markers and cardboard in case anyone wants to make their own sign, and set up a litany of American flags in effort to reclaim the patriotic symbols for Democrats.

Protesters lined the sidewalk in front of the office of Congressman Brian Fitzpatrick in Langhorne to protest the policies of the Trump administration.

Fitzpatrick, a moderate Republican, has represented Bucks County — one of Pennsylvania’s most notable swing districts — for years, but some Democrats in the purple county often grow frustrated with the multiterm congressman for what they believe to be Fitzpatrick not standing up to Trump enough.

Organized by Indivisible Bucks County, a progressive organization, protesters waved signs, cheered, and occasionally rattled musical instruments as cars at the busy Newtown Bypass intersection drove by (and frequently gave approving honks).

For Xavier Tucker, an organizer with the nonprofit One PA, the biggest problem facing Philly workers is a simple one:

“We’re worth more than we’re getting,” he said. Tucker, 26, lamented how difficult it is for average Philadelphians to pay for basic necessities like rent and healthcare. He said the minimum wage ought to be raised, and said factors like a person’s race or age shouldn’t affect their ability to live comfortably.

Otherwise, “You can’t afford life,” he said.

A couple members of the crowd held up giant Palestinian flags in front of the stage that Sen. Bernie Sanders spoke on. Sanders did not directly speak about those flags in the crowd, but he criticized Congress for the amount of military aid it sends to Israel and spoke out against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s role in the war in Gaza.

“We can cut military spending and build 5 million units of low-income and affordable housing,” he said.

After Sanders left the stage, some members of the crowd chanted “Bernie! Bernie!” But others decked out in pro-Palestinian gear instead shouted out “Free free Palestine!”

Lee Maxwell, 78, worked for more than half of his life. Now in retirement, he is fighting for other workers to have better rights.

Holding a “Trump is stealing our future” sign, the Philadelphian can't help but feel like workers' rights and democracy are at stake.

“All the good things that our democracy has brought us are in jeopardy because we have a president that disobeys the Supreme Court at the expense of workers,” Maxwell said.

Sen. Bernie Sanders was greeted with enthusiasm as supporters crowded the concrete area in front of City Hall. He credited workers' rights in the country to trade union movement activism over the years.

“We have come a long way, not quite far enough,” he said.

Sanders said that under the Trump administration, the United States has an "oligarchic form of society.”

Standing shoulder-to-shoulder, thousands of protesters are rallying on the north side of City Hall holding "Trump: hands off our unions" signs.

As a speaker called for a “moral revolution in love and justice,” people cheered on, some drumming in excitement.

For Bucks County resident Phila Back, today feels like a historic event, a way to show President Donald Trump how workers feel about his administration's policies.

Some older attendees said they were already planning to attend the rally to support workers on Thursday when they learned Sen. Bernie Sanders would be joining, but were thrilled to hear the news.

Lynne Iser, 75, a Northwest Philadelphia resident, works for a national organization called Elders Action Network to encourage elders to stand up for future generations. She said she believes the country’s democracy is in peril but she’s encouraged by the turnout at the City Hall rally from both younger and older people.

“Unfortunately, our legacy is a little messy right now, so we have a lot of work to do,” she said.

Nicole Parisano, 29, a Philly resident who works as a data analyst at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, stood outside City Hall dressed in a red cloak and white bonnet depicting women in the Handmaid’s Tale before the rally began. Activists have embraced this look to protest for abortion rights.

Parisano said she supports Sen. Bernie Sanders and U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez’s rallying efforts, and heard about the rally through news coverage of Sanders coming to Philly.

“It's really an honor that of all the cities that he could have chosen, he decided to be in Philadelphia for May Day,” she said. “It's somewhat fitting, considering this is where Independence Hall is and a lot of revolutionary history comes from here. And I just hope that we can, like, live up to the Founding Fathers and reclaim our freedoms from the corrupt government.”

Dozens of seniors peppered the intersection of Shannondell Boulevard and Egypt Road in Norristown united by one belief: They don't like the direction the country is going in and they place the blame on President Donald Trump's administration.

“I hate Trump and what he's doing to our country,” said Jeannette Bower, who at 81, is taking to this sort of protesting for about the second time in her life.

“If he got his way, we'd have no rights at all. It would be like living in a communist country.”

Occupying all four corners of an intersection near Suburban Square in Ardmore, around 200 protesters brandished signs criticizing the Trump administration and calling for the release of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Maryland man who was mistakenly deported to El Salvador in March.

As passing drivers honked in support, the crowd chanted, “The people, united, will never be defeated” and “Hey hey, ho ho, Donald Trump has got to go.”

Deborah Rosan, the protest organizer, said she learned about May Day protests being organized across the country and wanted to plan a demonstration in her hometown of Ardmore, where she’s lived for almost 20 years.

A crowd of protesters chanted “bring them home” as the marched down 6th Street towards the Independence Visitors Center Thursday.

People inside their cars and on a tourist bus, waiting for the crowd to pass, pulled out their phones to record the crowd.

Notf Benzing, a driver on his way home, stared at the crowd with a big smile on his face.

Art Lebofsky, 83, knew he was eligible for a monthly payment of $250 after his wife died in March. He understood the process to be relatively straightforward. Yet staff cuts to the Social Security Administration made the process all the more challenging..

Employees never explicitly blamed President Donald Trump's administration or the Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency, but Lebofsky said they seemed just as frustrated by what felt like long hours-long waits on the phone and changing processes. He said a telephone interview turned into an in-person interview, which he was told might be a year's wait, before he was told the in-person directive had been rescinded. 

“While I'm not dependent on the $250, it seems like the rules keep changing in the middle of the game,” he said, adding that people his age need predictability.

It’s been a year since Jenny Garcia’s family ceased to be complete.

One afternoon, her Honduran born cousin left home to never return. They later learned he had been detained by immigration officers and was on his way to being deported. But it wasn’t a cut-and-dry process.

During his 60 days in custody, he was bounced around to six different immigration facilities, Garcia said.

The crowd is continuing to grow outside the federal courthouse in Philadelphia, with more than a hundred people on the sidewalk to demand that a New Jersey ban on detention contacts be upheld.

Organizers are keeping a sidewalk lane open for pedestrians.

Protesters are chanting “Trump listen, we are here to fight” and “the streets are for the people, and where are the people? We are here in the streets asking for our dignity.”

Former Vice President Kamala Harris used a high-profile speech to sharply criticize President Donald Trump amid speculation about whether she will mount another presidential campaign or opt to run for California governor.

In her most extensive public remarks since leaving office in January following her defeat to Trump, Harris said Wednesday she’s inspired by Americans fighting Trump’s agenda despite threats to their freedom or livelihood.

“Instead of an administration working to advance America’s highest ideals, we are witnessing the wholesale abandonment of those ideals,” Harris said a day after Trump reached 100 days in office.

U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders will headline a May Day rally in Philadelphia Thursday as he brings his nationwide fight against President Donald Trump’s agenda to Pennsylvania.

Sanders, a Vermont independent who caucuses with Democrats, is expected to speak at a “For the Workers, Not the Billionaires” event being hosted by Philadelphia’s AFL-CIO chapter, which is scheduled to get underway around 4 p.m. Thursday outside the north side of City Hall.

“This rally is really to show when labor, immigration groups, and the community stand together, we’re a force that can’t be divided. Even Bernie Sanders is joining us,” said Philadelphia Council AFL-CIO spokesperson Maggie Mullooly. “We’re fighting for a future that works for the workers and not the billionaires.”

More than 40 pro-immigration groups from three states will rally in Philadelphia on Thursday as a federal appeals court considers the legality of a New Jersey ban on migrant-detention contracts.

The demonstration starts at 9:30 a.m. outside the U.S. District Court building, which houses the Third Circuit Court of Appeals. It’s to be led by the New Jersey Alliance for Immigrant Justice and its partners from New Jersey, Pennsylvania and New York, including Philadelphia-based VietLead, the Pennsylvania Immigration Coalition, and the Free Migration Project.

All want the appeals court to fully restore a state law that was partially struck down by a lower court.

The New Jersey case goes back to 2021, when Gov. Phil Murphy signed a law that barred private and public entities from entering into contracts with ICE to detain immigrants.

Activists hailed the law as a victory for immigrant rights, and credited it with prompting the closure of three county-run detention centers.

The law was challenged by CoreCivic, the big private prison firm, and in 2023 a federal judge partly sided with the company, calling the law “a dagger aimed at the heart of the federal government’s immigration enforcement mission and operations.”

ICE wants to open a big, 1,000-bed detention center in Newark, part of what’s become an expanding federal effort to detain more immigrants in the Garden State.

And that push hasn’t occurred solely under President Donald Trump.

His predecessor, Joe Biden, had U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement begin exploring ways to add 600 detention beds in New Jersey. More recently, the Trump administration has been working on plans to detain thousands of undocumented immigrants at military bases, including at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, the sprawling installation in South Jersey.