LOS ANGELES — Activists who are marching for labor and immigrant rights in U.S. cities on Friday will broaden their message to direct attention toward police brutality as tensions simmer in communities across the nation.

The marches on May 1 have their roots in labor movements, which hold annual demonstrations in a myriad of countries calling for workers’ rights. In recent years, marches in the United States got a boost from immigrants seeking authorization to live and work in the country legally.

Now, some of the activists in cities from Boston to Oakland, California, said they are also rallying in support of “Black Lives Matter” — the slogan of the growing movement in the wake of a series of high-profile deaths of black men as the result of a police encounter.

“It is important to support movements and struggles that stand up for people being singled out by the system. Right now, immigrants share that distinction with African-American youth, that we are being targeted by the system,” said Miguel Paredes, membership coordinator of the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles.

The move comes after unrest in Baltimore and protests in other cities over the death of Freddie Gray, who suffered severe spinal injuries at some point after he tried to run from police.