KQED61%
Arrests at SFO as May Day Protests Kick Into Gear Across the Bay Area 5%
By Elize Manoukian0%
5/2/2026, 12:30:36 AM
BS Summary: This article contains 27 faulty reasoning types, including Negativity Bias, Halo Effect, and Appeal to Emotion, with Framing Effect as the most egregious example at 17.7% saturation with 217 hits. Analysis detected 1,636 faulty-reasoning hits from 1,226 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 20.1% and a BS Rank of 5% (16,057 of 16,813 articles). This article is better (less manipulative) than 95.50% of the article peer group.
No work, no school, no shopping and no billionaires: That was the message at May Day protests across the Bay Area on Friday, as activists gathered to fight for workers’ rights over those of the nation’s ultra-wealthy.
This year’s protests in the U.S. on International Workers’ Day are also taking aim at the Trump administration’s aggressive immigration agenda and high living costs — exacerbated by the U.S. war in Iran — that threaten to upend the lives of workers worldwide.
Local elected officials were among several arrested Friday morning at a rally at San Francisco International Airport.
Supervisors Rafael Mandelman and Connie Chan, as well as state Sen.
Josh Becker, D–Menlo Park, were detained by police, who planned to cite 20 to 25 protesters, according to an officer at the scene.
Mandelman told KQED that they were cited for blocking a roadway and failing to disperse.
The rally at SFO, which demanded U.S.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers out of the city, was led by the airport’s passenger service workers, who are preparing for a Board of Supervisors hearing next week over low wages.
“They move bags, they assist the elderly, disabled passengers, they clean airport cabins … and I was there to stand with them in solidarity as they push for a new contract,” Becker said.
“But also I think it’s part of a larger moment today on International Workers’ Day to say that one job should be enough here in the Bay Area.
Unfortunately, for many workers, that’s not the case.”
Supervisor Rafael Mandelman is arrested as he stands with other demonstrators blocking the road in front of San Francisco International terminal during the ICE Out of San Francisco protest at SFO on May Day at San Francisco International Airport on Friday, May 1, 2026, in San Francisco.
(Lea Suzuki/San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images)
SFO was also the site of a high-profile altercation with ICE last month in which officers forcefully detained a woman and her young child.
The demonstrators who were detained and being processed Friday afternoon appear to have been among a group blocking the street outside the airport’s International Terminal.
“It’s a good day for the movement,” Sanjay Garla, first vice president at SEIU United Service Workers West, said as he was escorted through the terminal by police.
“ICE out of SFO!”
San Francisco Civic Center
At 2 p.m., Mission Action, a group that advocates for the city’s immigrant and low-income residents, held a rally at Civic Center, which was followed by a march to Embarcadero Plaza.
Justice Robinson, a student at KIPP San Francisco College Preparatory, marches during a May Day protest near Civic Center Plaza in San Francisco on May 1, 2026.
(Beth LaBerge/KQED)
San Francisco and Oakland school of the arts students cheer as they listen to speakers during a May Day rally at Civic Center Plaza in San Francisco on May 1, 2026.
(Beth LaBerge/KQED)
“We’re walking out of our schools because we need to show up and be there for the people — because we are the people,” said Max Navarro Serrano, a high school student at Ruth Asawa San Francisco School of the Arts.
“We have the power, not the f— billionaires.”
Among the May Day Coalition’s demands are that leaders support a ballot measure that would impose a one-time, 5% tax on the assets of California’s roughly 200 billionaires, which qualified for the November ballot this week.
Demonstrators march during a May Day protest at Civic Center Plaza in San Francisco on May 1, 2026.
(Beth LaBerge/KQED)
San Francisco high school students cheer as they listen to speakers during a May Day rally at Civic Center Plaza in San Francisco on May 1, 2026.
(Beth LaBerge/KQED)
San José
In East San José, local and state labor groups joined hundreds of progressive activists at a rally at Story and King roads.
Several hundred people held signs and chanted slogans in support of workers, against ICE, and against wars during a large May Day rally and march in East San José.
(Joseph Geha/KQED)
Billionaire and candidate for California governor Tom Steyer speaks with Lorena Gonzalez Fletcher, president of the California Federation of Labor Unions, and Doug Moore, executive director of the United Domestic Workers of America, during a May Day rally in East San José.
(Joseph Geha/KQED)
Among the crowd was Lorena Gonzalez Fletcher, president of the California Federation of Labor Unions, who directly called out Big Tech for trying to “buy elections” in San José.
“It is the epicenter of what we’re fighting here, when we say ‘Workers over billionaires.’
We’re going to fight back and we’re going to do it right here on their turf,” she said.
Fareed F. holds up an American flag during a May Day rally in East San José.
(Joseph Geha/KQED)
Several hundred gathered to support workers, immigrants and anti-war policies near Story and King roads in East San José on May 1, 2026.
(Joseph Geha/KQED)
Oakland
Hundreds rallied and marched from Fruitvale Plaza through the East Oakland neighborhood to show solidarity with immigrant workers.
Oakland resident Andrea Byers held a sign that said: “I support my immigrant neighbors.”
“I support my immigrant neighbors because my immigrant neighbors support me, and support this economy,” Byers said.
“It’s what our economy has always been based on.”
Maria Alejo dances with the Teokali dance group at a rally proceeding the Oakland Sin Fronteras May Day march in Oakland on May 1, 2026.
(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)
Harriet Shange – Watkins (left), and Savannah Shange (center) cheer for the speakers at a rally proceeding the Oakland Sin Fronteras May Day march in Oakland on May 1, 2026.
(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)
Melissa Guzman Garcia, an associate Ethnic Studies professor at San Francisco State University, said she came to Oakland alongside some students and colleagues to remind herself that “there are so many things to fight for in this country, even when it feels like so many things are going wrong.”
“It’s nice to see so many people, so many different generations showing up to Fruitvale, Oakland, and coming here to celebrate together,” Guzman Garcia said.
Oree Originol carries a sign demanding justice for Renee Good at the Oakland Sin Fronteras May Day march in Oakland on May 1, 2026.
(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)
Maria C. with Mujeres Unidas en Acción and others chant while marching in the Oakland Sin Fronteras May Day march in Oakland on May 1, 2026.
(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)
May Day, or International Workers’ Day, is a public holiday honoring labor in many countries.
In the Bay Area, the first May Day was celebrated in 1890 in Emeryville’s Shellmound Park, organized by carpenters and joiners unions, according to activist historians Left in the Bay.
The labor celebrations overlapped with the festival celebrating the change of the seasons, commemorated throughout the northern hemisphere.
Protesters marched carrying a large bird puppet to protest Flock security cameras at the Oakland Sin Fronteras May Day march in Oakland on May 1, 2026.
(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)
That May Day used to be a public holiday in San Francisco for schoolchildren, who danced around May Poles and were given free milk and cookies in city parks.
KQED’s María Fernanda Bernal, Farida Jhabvala Romero, Sydney Johnson, Daisy Nguyen and Joseph Geha contributed to this report.
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