BoingBoing reader Dan snapped this photo during the second of two massive immigration rallies that took place in Los Angeles today. Shown here, two men carry a hand-drawn sign near the intersection of Wilshire Blvd. and La Brea. The man on the right wears a t-shirt that says, "Hoy Marchamos / Mañana Votamos" — in Spanish, "Today we march, tomorrow we vote." Link to full-size, and here are more.
Crowd estimates for the mid-Wilshire afternoon demonstration range from 300,000 (source: LAPD) to 400,000 (LA Times) and upwards. The LA Times reports that 3000,000 attended the earlier march downtown this morning (LAPD pegged that one lower, others pegged it even higher). No matter what the final count may be, the turnout was historic.
Phil Haack, a blogger and software developer in Los Angeles, writes:
"Today we marched in support for immigrants and immigration reform. (…)
The photos from the roof do not even begin to give you a sense of how many people were there.
Multiple city blocks were chock full of people chanting, singing, and dancing.
"The air was electric. Even the little ones were into it. Though this one was tuckered out."
Link to blog entry, and here is haacked.com's photoset.
BoingBoing reader newave says,
Check out the multiple web cam streams, 3 from the 68th floor of the US Bank Tower in Downtown LA, and one on the street:
Snip from Los Angeles Times coverage:
At the downtown rally about 10 a.m., many of the demonstrators appeared in white shirts and jeans. They also wore their disparate backgrounds like identity badges: Men from the Mexican countryside wore straw hats and handlebar mustaches, while Los Angeles-bred boys strutted in sunglasses and baggy pants. Politically active women wore T-shirts with pictures of the Mexican revolutionary hero Emiliano Zapata, while many teenagers came in bare-midriff tops and tight pants.
The demonstrators also came in Central American guayabera shirts and soccer shirts, they wore tattoos and they wrapped giant American flags around their shoulders like Mexican shawls. They were smiling, walking with a bounce in their step. One held a sign that said, "All Gringos Are Immigrants."
BoingBoing reader eecue went to the LA march downtown today, and shot photos including the one above. "Spirits were high and the stars and stripes were flying high with the protesters," he says.
A number of posts with photos and first-person accounts at blogging.la: Councilmember Eric Garcetti mixes it up with protestors, May Day photos, Boycott marching westward, Macarthur march in full effect, Great American boycott march, Ssssssh.
Related BoingBoing posts about the May 1 marches: Tampa, New York City, San Francisco, Tijuana, Portland, Chicago, Seattle, Los Angeles part 2, Los Angeles part 3. An update on reports that police used excessive force on protesters in MacArthur park is here.
