At least 40 people were arrested. In Los Angeles, thousands of people gathered for a march that snaked through the downtown streets.
In the Bay Area, Occupy demonstrators canceled plans to shut down the Golden Gate Bridge and instead joined picket lines organized by labor groups. The protests turned confrontational in Oakland, with demonstrators vandalizing property and police firing tear gas. In San Francisco, the Occupy movement was blamed for a night of violence in which cars and small businesses were vandalized. And in Seattle, black-clad protesters allegedly used sticks to break downtown windows and ran through the streets disrupting traffic.
May Day was also observed with large protests across South America, Europe, the Middle East and Asia.
