Location of next Hands Off! rally is announced

FAIRFIELD — The next Hands Off! protest rally in Fairfield will be at the corner of Pennsylvania Avenue and Travis Boulevard – in front of the office of Rep. John Garamendi – on Thursday. Organizer Azonia Haney, of Fairfield, said the focus of this, the third Hands Off! rally, will be protecting organized labor against supporters' perceived threat by the Trump administration.

"We don't want to wait for elections, we don't want to wait another month and we don't want to wait for the Fourth of July," Haney said in a prior interview. The event is slated for 5 to 7 p.m.



The protests, Haney said, gives those like herself a way to express their concerns, and hopefully, influence lawmakers to put checks on Trump's rule by executive order. May 1 is International Workers Day. It also has an historical marker because of the Haymarket affair – also known as the Haymaker massacre.

The strike for an eight-hour work week began on May 1, 1886 at the McCormick Harvesting Machine Company, a Haymaker Square in west Chicago. Four days later, dynamite was thrown into the crowd, killing eight..