Metro Police arrest six protesters sitting in the street outside the McDonald’s at 2248 Paradise Road during a minimum wage march on Tuesday, Nov. 29, 2016. Fast food, airport, Uber, home care, higher ed and child care workers joined community and elected officials for the march beginning at Carl’s Jr., 2001 Las Vegas Blvd. South, ending at McDonald’s with a rally and peaceful protest.
Published Tuesday, Nov. 29, 2016 | 7:15 p.m.
Updated Tuesday, Nov. 29, 2016 | 10:30 p.m.
The "Fight for $15" march in Las Vegas Tuesday evening concluded with six people being hauled off by Metro Police officers as they staged a brief sit-in on Paradise Road near Sahara Avenue.
The arrests, which were conducted promptly without further incident, occurred in front of McDonald's at 2248 Paradise Road.
As Lupe Guzman, 46, was being loaded into a Metro van, she smiled at her daughter, who was standing on the sidewalk, and mouthed "I love you."
"I love you, too," 16-year-old Luna Lopez replied.
Luna said that her mother has been a fast-food worker for almost a decade and that they showed up because they're "fighting for the cause."
That cause is to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour.
A Nevada initiative to gradually raise pay from $8.25 to $13 an hour by 2024 was withdrawn by its supporters before it could make it to the Nov. 8 ballot. The issue is expected to resurface in the 2017 legislative session, the Sun previously reported.
Although they were loud, the roughly 100 participants marched peacefully, demanding an increase to the minimum wage, similar to incidents conducted throughout the U.S. today.
"I'm the son of a fast-food worker," said one of the protest organizers Jose Macias. "Workers deserve living wages, no matter the job (they) do, they deserve to make a living" and $15 is not a lot to ask for, he said.
Macias, 27, said that through his advocacy efforts, he interacts on a day-to-day basis with other fast-food employees who he said are passionate about the customer service they provide and just want to be able to afford to survive. "Workers are not asking to be rich."
Via chants, the group, which comprised sign-gripping participants of diverse ages, also advocated for other social causes, such as stopping deportations, women's rights and clean water.
Metro apparently blocked off a lane of traffic to accommodate the group that headed from St. Louis Avenue and Las Vegas Boulevard, to Paradise.
Metro officers, who arrived in about a dozen vehicles, kept an eye on the protesters from a distance until they placed a large cloth that read, "#FightFor15 We Won't Back Down," on a crosswalk and sat down.
An officer took to a loudspeaker and gave the half-dozen people about a minute to move. When they didn't, officers on foot and on horseback put them in handcuffs.
The arrested, who put their hands up and counted down from 59 once the warning was given, were taken into custody while the rest of the group cheered. They were being booked at the Las Vegas Detention Center on counts of pedestrian on the roadway, Metro Lt. Corey Moon said.
The protest, which began in front of a nearby Carl's Jr., winded down after the arrests.
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