40,000 persons who support rights for immigrants marched today in St Paul, Mn from the Cathedral to the State Capitol. Most of the participants were Hispanics. I saw a few members of Veterans for Peace and the Anti-war Committee in the crowd. Members of these two prominent anti-war groups are trying to gain the support of these immigrants rights groups for their effort against the Iraq war.
I did a Google search of the march today, and most of the media reports put the crowd size at more than 10,000. The Star Tribune says the crowd was between 15,000 and 40,000. If you look closely at my photos, you can see that the crowd is visible for as far as my camera could capture. The media in the Twin Cities have a history of underestimating the size of crowds for anti-corporate events. One event that the media estimated to have 20,000 participants was the pro-war rally in St Paul several years ago. Powerline has some photos at this
link
-- compare and contrast the crowd size at two events.
I walked through the crowd once the main group reached the Capitol, and near the front of the crowd the amplified speakers were so loud they hurt my ears. Near the back of the crowd, with overflow well into the streets, persons were asking me if there were any speeches being presented. From the back of the crowd, no one could hear anything that was happening near the front.
I spoke with some immigrants who were marching, and they are aware that this is a national cause. Some said they are planning ways to show their economic impact, for example by not purchasing anything on a given day. I have no idea how many of the marchers were legal immigrants - if they can't vote, that certainly lessons their political impact. But from the size of this crowd, Minnesota, which is thought of as a place dominated by persons of European ancestry, has a large Hispanic population, a population that is advocating for humanitarian immigration reform.
Here is
link
to my photo gallery of this event. I have a lot more photos there and the size of each one is a little bigger than the ones I posted here.