May Day marches move through downtown LA

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Demonstrators march during a May Day protest May 1, 2011, in downtown Los Angeles. Thousands of people marched for immigration reform, among other issues.

A smaller than anticipated crowd of immigrants and their supporters marched through downtown Los Angeles on Sunday in support of a government-created path to citizenship for the millions of undocumented people already here.

Organizers expected between 10,000 and 50,000 people, but by 2:45 p.m., fire department officials guessed over radio channels that about 2,600 to 2,900 people had marched up Broadway, in two groups. Neither the Los Angeles Police Department nor the Los Angeles Fire Department was able to give crowd estimates for the event.

The group behind the May 1st March and Rally for Full Legalization started assembling at Broadway and Olympic Boulevard as early as 6 a.m. It was by far the largest group.

The Full Rights for Immigrants Coalition, which is supported by labor unions, also participated in what has become an annual event, along with members of the Southern California Immigration Coalition.

Two permitted marches started at noon and 12:30 p.m. and moved north on Broadway, with rally points at First and Fourth streets.

Police were out in full force, none wanting a replay of the disastrous May 1, 2007 rally in which some people were roughed up as police tried to break up crowds in MacArthur Park. The city ended up paying out about $13 million in legal settlements.

Officer Karen Rayner of the LAPD said no arrests had been made Sunday afternoon and both events remained peaceful.

Deputy Chief Jose Perez said that enough officers will be on duty to handle the crowd, even it grows as large as 50,000 people.

Marches similar to the ones in Los Angeles were held across the nation.

Several downtown streets were closed most of the day but are expected to reopen about 5 p.m.