Protesters handcuffed as they call for higher fast-food pay

NEW YORK (AP) — Police in New York and Detroit this morning have handcuffed several protesters who were blocking traffic. It’s part of the latest protest aimed at getting McDonald’s, Burger King and other fast-food companies to pay their workers at least $15 an hour.

Organizers had said they would engage in nonviolent civil disobedience to draw more attention to their cause.

By late this morning, protesters in some cities were standing in front of fast-food restaurants, chanting for higher pay and holding signs in English and Spanish.

Two dozen protesters were handcuffed in Detroit after they wouldn’t move out of a street near a McDonald’s restaurant. In Chicago, a couple of buses unloaded a group in front of a McDonald’s. They chanted, “Stand up. Fight back” while about 100 people crowded on the sidewalk.

Union organizers said they expected thousands to show up to today’s protests around the country.

The movement, which is backed financially by the Service Employees International Union and others, has gained national attention at a time when the wage gap between the poor and the rich has become a hot political issue. Many fast-food workers do not make much more than the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour, which adds up to about $15,000 a year for 40 hours a week.

%@AP Links

176-a-12-(Kaya Moody, McDonald’s employee and protester, in AP interview)-“bill on time”-McDonald’s Employee and Protester Kaya Moody says getting paid $15.00 an hour would be a huge help to her. (4 Sep 2014)

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175-a-07-(The Reverend Charles Williams II, protest organizer, in AP interview)-“of the matter”-Protest organizer The Reverend Charles Williams II says some workers at the protest have been arrested. (4 Sep 2014)

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177-r-08-(Sound of fast food workers, at protest in Detroit, saying they want more than $7.40 an hour)–Sound of fast food workers at protest in Detroit, saying they want more than $7.40 an hour. (4 Sep 2014)

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APPHOTO ILMG110: Chicago police place Tyree Johnson in handcuffs as they remove protesters from the middle of 87th street between a McDonald’s and a Burger King on Chicago’s south side Thursday, Sept. 4, 2014. Johnson, who has worked at McDonald’s for 22 years and makes $8.45 per hour, was willing to be arrested as labor organizers escalate their campaign to unionize the fast food industry’s workers. Workers who are involved in the movement are intensifying their push for higher pay and unionization blocked the street between the two restaurants. (AP Photo/M. Spencer Green) (4 Sep 2014)

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Copyright 2014 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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