Los Angeles hosts largest immigrant rights protest since May 2006

Los Angeles hosts largest immigrant rights protest since May
More than 50,000 march for immigrant rights!

April 7 immigrant rights protest stage banner. Photo: Travis Wilkerson

Well over 50,000 immigrants and their allies marched for full rights and legalization on April 7 in Los Angeles. The march and rally was the largest pro-immigrant action since May 2006 and a true reinvigoration of the immigrant rights movement. Telemundo and Univision television showed aerial shots of the massive turnout. NBC national news made the large turnout a major story, while AP and the Los Angeles Times tried to minimize the demonstration by giving ridiculously low numbers. Univision described the march as attended by more than 50,000 people.
 
The massive crowd began to gather early in the morning at Olympic and Broadway in downtown LA. The majority of participants, including many families, wore red, the color of the demonstration. Thousands carried signs, flags and banners to demand amnesty and to stop the racist raids targeting undocumented workers. Chants like “Que queremos, amnistia!” and “Los inmigrantes, somos importantes!” rang out loudly on the packet streets and adjacent sidewalks. 
 

Juan Jose Gutierrez, Director of Latino Movement USA Photo: Travis Wilkerson

The march was organized by the April 7 Full Rights for Immigrants Coalition, led by Latino Movement USA, Hermandad Mexicana Nacional, and including the ANSWER Coalition (Act Now to Stop War and End Racism), Confederacion de Organizaciones Mexicanas, Casa Nicaragua, La Casa Del Mexicano, Federacion de Clubes Michoacanos en California, Central American Round Table, Los Angeles councilmember Jose Huizar, Spanish-language radio host Don Cheto, United Teachers Los Angeles (UTLA), People’s CORE, United Farmworkers of America, Alianza de Hondurenos de Los Angeles and others.
 
Once the beginning arrived it took the march at least 70 minutes to file into the rally site next to LA City Hall. At the rally, Juan Jose Gutierrez, Director of Latino Movement USA and main organizer of the April 7 march, told the crowd, “This is an important day to show everyone who wanted the immigrant rights movement to go away that we are still here, stronger than ever. Those people in Congress and the Bush administration must know that full rights for immigrants, for our community, is a top national priority. We will continue to struggle for equality and legalization until we are victorious.”
 

Photo: Travis Wilkerson

The April 7 Coalition’s mobilization stressed that the anti-war movement and immigrants rights movement are coming together to begin creating a unified movement for equality and justice, and to stop the war. The main stage banner at the rally highlighted this point. It read “The Anti-War ANSWER Coalition United with the Full Rights for Undocumented Workers Movement.” 
 
ANSWER-Los Angeles coordinator Preston Wood addressed the massive crowd in English and Spanish. He said, “The ANSWER Coalition stands united with everyone here today for amnesty and legalization now. Unity of our common struggles against the racist raids and to stop the war on Iraq is the way forward. The war on Iraq is part of Bush’s phony ‘war on terror,’ while the government terrorizes immigrant communities daily through raids and mass deportations. ANSWER fights against these injustices and demands equality for all people in the United States. An injury to one is an injury to all!”

Click here for many more April 7 photos.

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A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition
http://www.answercoalition.org/
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