May Day protest blocks traffic in San Francisco; demonstration to disrupt Port of Oakland operations

Union workers and pro-Palestinian protesters blocked traffic at the 24th St. Mission BART station in San Francisco during a May Day rally and march on Wednesday.

Workers also threatened a shutdown of the Port of Oakland to coincide with May Day and the ongoing protests of the war in Gaza later Wednesday afternoon.

The group Labor for Palestine said hundreds of Bay Area union workers were going to participate in the work stoppage at the Port of Oakland, meeting for a rally at the West Oakland BART station Wednesday at 4 p.m. and subsequent march to port facilities.

The event comes less than four months after hundreds of protesters staged an early-morning protest outside the Port of Oakland to demand an end to U.S. aid to Israel. In November 2023, protesters demanding a cease-fire in Gaza blocked a U.S. military supply ship leaving the port by locking themselves to the vessel.

Wednesday's labor action was one of several events planned across the Bay Area on May 1, also known as May Day or International Workers' Day. Labor for Palestine also said there was a march and rally planned at the Federal Building at 1301 Clay St. in Oakland.