Penn State students march in streets on May Day as protests take place nationwide
Penn State students marched through the streets of downtown State College on Thursday evening during a May Day protest.
About 30 students began marching down College Avenue after a rally at the Allen Street gates. They marched for about 20 minutes on Fraser Street and onto Beaver Avenue, blocking traffic, before ending back at the Allen Street gates.
Passing cars honked as traffic was briefly held up, but the march was held without incident. At least one State College police car was present.
The protest was organized by several student groups including the Student Committee for Defense and Solidarity and People’s Defense Front - Northern Appalachia, according to a social media post about the event.
May Day — which is celebrated annually on May 1 as International Labor Day — took on new meaning this year for anti-Trump protesters. More than 1,000 events nationwide were organized by May Day Strong, a coalition of local groups and national organizations such as MoveOn, Women’s March and the 50501 movement.
“This May Day we are fighting back,” May Day Strong’s website reads. “We are demanding a country that puts our families over their fortunes — public schools over private profits, healthcare over hedge funds, prosperity over free market politics.”
The Penn State groups do not appear to be affiliated with May Day Strong, but shared a similar message about workers, while also chanting about Palestine. Signs included those reading “F--- Trump,” “Peoples Revolution” and “Free Palestine.”
Marchers chanted things such as, “What do have? Nothing. What do we want? Everything,” “Whose streets? Our streets,” and “Workers of the world, unite.”
The group was smaller than one that marched through downtown State College on April 15 in support of international students amid students having their legal status revoked, a move the Trump administration recently reversed course on. The march was organized by the same student groups.
May Day demonstrations are planned across the country through the weekend, including another in State College on Saturday. Sponsored by Seven Mountains AFL-CIO and others, the rally will be held at 1:30 p.m. Saturday in Sidney Friedman Park.
“Working people are under attack,” the event page reads. “Whether you’re a nurse, a bricklayer, a city employee, or a teacher, billionaires are paying to rig the system to crush working families.”
This story was originally published May 1, 2025 at 8:29 PM.
