Students and members of the Occupy Long Beach movement marched across Cal State Long Beach today as part of May Day, an international holiday celebrating workers’ rights.
Students held signs, carried bicycles and wore Guy Fox handkerchief masks as they chanted, “Walk out and let them know student debt has got to go.”
Students protested across lower and upper campus and gathered on the university Commencement Lawn in front of the Beach Hut convenience store.
Campus police monitored Brotman Hall as a part of its protocol, said University Police Capt. Scott Brown.
“We don’t want a take over,” he said.
But protesters did not march to Brotman Hall and later left campus to join a larger protest in downtown Long Beach.
“I feel like it’s great,” said junior anthropology major Hayley White, who was protesting with the group. “We are an entity all our own and we can make our own decisions and we’re not going to take it anymore.”
Occupy CSULB protesters started planning six months ago for the May Day protest, according to public health graduate student and protester Ben Fisher.
Fisher said that he thinks the police are not on their side and that it’s OK for people to tell the police that they don’t agree with them.
“Over time, you learn to resist,” Fisher said.
However, Fisher said that he doesn’t think anything significant will happen.
“I hope to raise awareness about striking in general and shut down the capitalist machine,” protester Josh Dufour said.
When they arrived on upper campus, protesters engaged in a form of communication commonly known as the “people’s microphone” or the “human microphone.” One protester yelled out information to the rest of the group, and the others would yell it back in unison to communicate what they had heard.
“If you can, bring a bike,” shouted protester Jason James to the crowd. “You can take any of the 90s busses. They’re free for students.”
Protesters planned to convene downtown by means of bicycles and buses and meet at Long Beach Boulevard and Seventh Street with two other groups of protesters, an immigrants’ rights group and another group coming from Shoreline Drive and Pine Avenue. The protesters’ goal was to shut down traffic by going downtown in buses and caravanning with bicycles and cars behind the buses.
After all directions were given, the protesters chanted, “Students united, we’ll never be defeated.”
May Day protests date back to the 1880s, when there were international labor strikes to recognize an eight-hour workday. May Day is also known as International Worker’s Day.
The general strike flyer promoting the rally in Long Beach stated: “No work. No school. No shopping. No banking. No trading.”