Today is Black Friday—the biggest shopping day of the year. And while thousands of bargain-hunters have been lined up at various stores since the wee hours of the morning, vying to get their hands on the best deals that really don’t exist, thousands of Wal-Mart workers and supporters have set up shop outside more than 1,500 Walmart stores across the nation, protesting for better jobs and work conditions.

D.C.’s first Walmart stores—located at 99 H Street NW and 5968 Georgia Avenue NW—aren’t scheduled to open until Wednesday, December 4, but protesters are flocking to other area Walmart locations in Virginia. Protesters gathered outside the Walmart on Richmond Highway in Alexandria at 10 a.m., and more are scheduled to gather at the other Alexandria location on Kingstowne Boulevard at 10:45 a.m., an OUR Walmart—the group organizing the nation-wide protests—spokesperson tells DCist. According to NBC4, nine protesters were arrested at the Richmond Highway Walmart location.

In Laurel, Md., protesters started gathering outside the Walmart SuperCenter on Russett Green at 9:30 a.m. Earlier this week, a Maryland judge barred protesters from Walmart company property in anticipation of today’s protests, finding that “the protests have hurt the company’s reputation, sales and shopping experience,” The Baltimore Sun reports. However, the protest at the Laurel, Md. Walmart location went on as planned.

OUR Walmart announced these nation-wide protests, which is “set to be one of the largest mobilizations of working families in American history,” earlier this month, calling for Wal-Mart to improve their labor standards, including providing employees with more full-time work to make at least $25,000 a year.

Update: Amanda Henneberg, a Wa-Mart spokesperson, issued the following statement to DCist: “This is the busiest time of year for Walmart, and our focus is on our customers and making sure that they have the best holiday ever. We just had a record-breaking Black Friday and our success wouldn’t be possible without the hard work of our dedicated associates. A handful of union orchestrated media stunts, made of up of primarily union members and activists, don’t represent the views of the vast majority of the 1.3 million associates who do work for Walmart.”

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