By Gloria Oladipo
As Labor Day rallies took place across the US, the Chicago mayor Brandon Johnson sharply denounced the Trump administration’s threat to deploy federal troops to the city as part of an immigration crackdown.
“No federal troops in the city of Chicago,” said Johnson on Monday to a gathered crowd at the “Workers over Billionaires” demonstration in Chicago’s West Loop neighborhood.
Johnson added: “We’re going to defend our democracy … we’re going to protect the humanity of every single person in the city of Chicago.”
Johnson later led the crowd in chants of “No troops in Chicago” and “Invest in Chicago”, the New York Times reported.
Protesters also met outside the Trump Tower in the city’s River North neighborhood, carrying anti-Trump posters and chanting “Lock him up”, according to footage posted to social media.
Monday’s rally in Chicago was one of hundreds of protests organized across the country as part of the national “Workers Over Billionaires” effort, a mass action calling for the protection of social safety nets such as Social Security; the funding of public schools, healthcare, and housing; amid other demands.
“Together we will demand a country that puts workers over billionaires,” said the May Day Strong group, a coalition to labor unions, in a statement about the event.
Demonstrations took place in cities large and small, including New York, Houston, Washington DC, and Los Angeles. Smaller cities such as Cleveland, Ohio and Greensboro, North Carolina, held rallies of their own as a part of the nationwide action.
