Protesters Plan Car Caravan Picket At Port Newark On ‘May Day’

NEWARK, NJ — Protesters are planning to hold a “car caravan picket” at one of the busiest cargo ports on the East Coast later this week, organizers say.

A day of protest is scheduled at Port Newark on Thursday, May 1 in solidarity with a nationwide round of demonstrations against the Trump administration. Read More: More Protests Against Trump Planned In New Jersey (Here’s Where, When)

The protests – which are being organized independently of each other – are being timed for International Workers’ Day, also known as “May Day.”

In Newark, protesters say they plan to gather at 12:30 p.m. at Military Park, 51 Park Place. The car caravan will follow from 1 to 2:30 p.m.

Eric Lerner, a member of the International Luxemburgist Network, one of the two initiating groups of the upcoming Newark car caravan, called for a “united fight of all workers.”

“The gutting of social services – health, education and housing – from the federal government to fund tax cuts for the rich, the shippers’ robbing of truckers’ wages, the plans to grab the resources of Gaza, Greenland, Ukraine and Canada for private profit, are all part of a single campaign of plunder: smashing workers’ lives to enrich the billionaires,” Lerner charged.

Activists allege that U.S. military shipments have recently passed through the Port Newark system, a claim that other groups have also made.

The port district – which includes the Port Newark–Elizabeth Marine Terminal on Newark Bay – supports over half a million jobs in the Newark-New York region. It moves more than $200 billion in goods every year.

“We see this car caravan as a demonstration of the power of port truckers and other protestors to join together to stop the arms shipments,” says Jay Arena, a member of Save Gaza, Save Us All, the other initiating organization.

“We don’t expect to block any specific shipment on May 1, but the car caravan will be a big step toward doing just that,” Arena said.

• See Related: Half Of NJ House Members Vote Against Huge Military Spending Bill
• See Related: Dockworker Strike Suspended; Ports In NJ, NY Revving Up Again

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