Around 90 Berkeley High School students gathered on the senior steps in front of the community theater on Friday, May 1, 2026, for International Workers’ Day to voice opinions on numerous ongoing social issues. The protest was led by the BHS Sunrise Chapter, organized by chapter president and BHS junior Ámela Amago. After meeting at the senior steps, students marched to the University of California, Berkeley campus to give speeches on pressing social issues, ranging from the ongoing conflict in Israel-Palestine to national issues with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the Trump Administration. “Fascism defeated, must never be repeated,” was chanted during the protest. Students partnered with numerous student groups at UC Berkeley, such as the Young Democratic Socialists of UC Berkeley, the UC Berkeley Sunrise Chapter, and more.
The BHS Sunrise Chapter is one of hundreds across the nation and is part of a large-scale network of student activist groups. Originally established in 2017 to advocate for renewable energy use and climate change policy progress, the nonprofit now advocates for a wide range of social issues and consists of over 100 different regional chapters across the country.
“The intention was to bring attention to what the (U.S.) administration has been doing — ICE, Palestine, and all the things that we’ve been super angry about — and we wanted to combine (these social issues) into one (protest),” Sitara Fan, a BHS junior and member of the Sunrise Club at BHS, said. “From Palestine to Mexico, these border walls have got to go,” “Hey-hey, ho-ho, Donald Trump has got to go” and “No hate. No Fear. Immigrants are welcome here” were among the numerous chants shouted by the group during the protest.
Amongst many issues, the new Berkeley Unified School District teachers’ contract was also discussed at the workers’ day protest. “I wanted to be a mouthpiece for the teachers’ union at (BHS) ... I spoke with one of my teachers who’s a member of the union, and she was just telling me how their contract got approved but (only covers) 65 percent of their health care,” Sonali Mascarenhas-Swan, a BHS senior and Sunrise Club member, said, “That’s not liveable, and that’s not sustainable.”
Although no teachers attended the BHS protest, Sunrise Club members reported that teachers were extremely supportive of students efforts and many voiced plans to participate in the motion outside of school hours.“That brought me a lot of hope, because in past protests, it felt like they couldn’t really share their stances,” Mascarenhas-Swan said.
Despite the protest being held on UC Berkeley campus, it was originally planned to take place at Civic Center Park, across the street from BHS. However, the International Union for Painters and Allied Traders had already occupied the par, hosting a protest at the time, and declined collaboration efforts with the Sunrise Chapter. According to Communications Manager of the BHS Sunrise Chapter, BHS junior Amelia Stern, The Union for Painters and Allied Traders “was scared we were going to say stuff too radical ... and talk about Palestine.”
Despite the shift in location, students found success in the protest, uniting with college students and classified workers unions. The protest was a depiction of collaboration between local student activist groups to discuss pressing social issues. However, Mascarenhas-Swan emphasized that activist work isn’t defined by a single protest. “It’s great to protest and use our voice, but also we need to be able to continue the momentum longer than just one day,” she said.