Austin Tx May Day events took place throughout the day, including an action by ICE Out of Austin and Grassroots Leadership to protest Governor Abbott and the fascist anti-sanctuary “Show me your papers” SB4, which was passed by the state senate and house and is waiting for Governor Abbott’s signature. Various other groups staged actions throughout the day in support of workers’ and immigrants rights.
Austin Refuse Fascism, which is a little more than a month old, passed out stickers and flyers at a rally at City Hall at 3, and then marched with about 100 people to the Capitol. This march was supposed to end at some planned teach-ins at the Capitol Rotunda, but we veered off toward the Texas Insurance Building where Governor Abbott has offices and where people were staging a sit-in. More and more people gathered outside the entrances of the building to support the protesters inside, letting the state troopers guarding the doors know that we were all watching. At one point when lawyers were not being allowed in to the building, the crowd chanted “Let them in, All of them.” This crowd was determined not to leave until all of the protesters were allowed to walk out of the building.
They chanted No Trump, No KKK, No fascist USA and Who do you serve? Who do you protect? and even Cops and Klan go hand in hand. As usual, the NO stickers were everywhere. People were flagging me down to get more stickers and a few people took our signs. people also said they’ve been seeing us at all the protests in Austin. It was clear that people in this crowd make a connection between the Trump/Pence regime and what was happening locally with SB4. What happened outside this building, with people refusing to leave until the folks inside were released, is what needs to happen on a much larger scale with the demand that this whole regime be removed from power. There is a lot the Austin RF chapter needs to do to grow and become more independent. We have started off with a lot of help from Houston RF, and a lot more could have happened at this particular event with a stronger core of people in the Austin chapter. SB4 has been a victory for the fascists, and there will be more if we don’t stop them.