Police arrest 19 in New York fast-food protesters

Police arrested 19 people Thursday in New York’s Times Square during a protest by fast-food restaurant workers demanding better pay and the right to form unions.

Hundreds of protesters converged on Manhattan’s theater and entertainment district as part of a day of nationwide strikes and demonstrations targeting the fast-food industry, according to the site strikefastfood.org.

About 20 of the protesters staged a sit-in in the street outside a McDonald’s restaurant on Times Square.

“There were 19 arrests for disorderly conduct when they obstructed vehicle traffic,” a New York Police Department spokesman told AFP.

The protesters are demanding that fast-food workers’ wages be increased to $15 an hour, more than double the minimum wage of $7.25 an hour paid by many restaurant chains.

They also are pressing for the right to form unions free of retaliation.

Organizers said protests were called in 150 US cities, including Chicago, Detroit, Miami, Denver and Los Angeles.

However, they called off plans for a strike in the St. Louis, Missouri area, the scene of sometimes violent protests after the August 9 police shooting of unarmed black teen Michael Brown in the suburb of Ferguson.

“Given recent events in Ferguson, MO and the desire for a sense of peace and normalcy in the community, fast-food workers decided not to hold a Thursday strike action in the St. Louis area,” they said.

The movement by fast-food workers began in New York in November 2012 and has since spread, but its impact outside the United States has been more muted.