“We come to work, we come for a better life, we come to participate for the American dream,” Villaraigosa told the marchers on Wilshire at La Brea this evening. (Rick Loomis / LAT)
Joseph Medina, 11, center and his sister Alejandra Medina, 14, march west with the Florence Ave crowd. (Damon Winter / LAT)
A sea of protestors with signs declaring, “Today we march, tomorrow we vote.” (Damon Winter / LAT)
Young protester Cynthia Ramirez, 10 months, stops with her mother Alicia Reyes, 33, in front of a shopping center on Atlantic Blvd. (Damon Winter / LAT)
Julio Alcala of Oxnard, whistle in mouth, uses a video camera to film the event. Alcala wore a Mexican wrestling mask and called himself “Myteriosos”. (Stephen Osman / LAT)
Marchers make their way up Fifth St. enroute to Plaza Park. (Stephen Osman / LAT)
Rogelio Hernandez of Oxnard uses a bullhorn to address the marchers on their way to Plaza Park. (Stephen Osman / LAT)
Margarita Medina leads the way during a march west on Florence Ave in Huntington Park. (Damon Winter / LAT)
Several thousand people marched between the old Oxnard High School on Fifth St. to Plaza Park in Oxnard. (Stephen Osman / LAT)
Thousands march down University Ave. in the city of Redlands on the way to to City Hall. (Karen Tapia-Andersen / LAT)
Marching along the roadside in Redlands. (Karen Tapia-Andersen / LAT)
Anti-protester Sheila Myers stands with a small group of people shouting at cars and holding up signs on the corner of Florida and Kirby in the city of Hemet. (Karen Tapia-Andersen / LAT)
Max Amenero is assisted by his wife Margarita as he walks with protestors along Broadway in downtown Los Angeles on Monday morning. (Al Seib / LAT)
A security guard walks past the closed doors of the Seventh Street Wholesale Market in downtown Los Angeles. The market is usually bustling with activity as produce vendors sell their goods at this time of the morning, but no vendors showed for work this Monday. (Al Seib / LAT)
The Market Spokesperson, Marta Ugarte, said the Market is open but that no one showed up today. (Al Seib / LAT)
Immigration demonstrators converge on Los Angeles City Hall after marching down Broadway. (Bryan Chan / LAT)
Wilshire and several other streets around L.A. functioned as arteries for marchers. (Bryan Chan / LAT)
la-protest67-iym74fnc (Bryan Chan / LAT)
A giant throng moves down Wilshire Blvd. (Bryan Chan / LAT)
Demonstrators march along Wilshire Blvd. The route began at MacArthur Park and continued along Wilshire Blvd. to La Brea Ave. (Rick Loomis / LAT)
About 250,000 people attended the early demonstration in front of City Hall and a crowd estimated at more than 400,000 worked its way from MacArthur Park to La Brea Avenue in the afternoon. (Rick Loomis / LAT)
Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa estimated nearly a million people demonstrated throughout the day. (Rick Loomis / LAT)
The local protests, part of a national day of demonstration, was in response to efforts by Congress to overhaul immigration policy for the first time in two decades. (Rick Loomis / LAT)
Keilin Tellez, 9, holds an American flag while being held by her mother Rosa Silva at the end of the Wilshire Blvd march. (Rick Loomis / LAT)
A statue of former Los Angeles Times publisher Harrison Gray Otis is used as a relief station for at least one marcher as they gather at Macarthur Park near downtown Los Angeles. (Robert Gauthier / LAT)
A demonstrator pauses for a photograph in front of a large American flag at Macarthur Park. (Robert Gauthier / LAT)
Lola Maldonado shows her patriotism with face paint. (Robert Gauthier / LAT)
Leslie Santiago, 2, is carried by her father Miguel as they make their way down Wilshire. (Robert Gauthier / LAT)
A patchwork banner made up of numerous flags is carried along Wilshire Blvd. (Robert Gauthier / LAT)
The colorful flags of different nations blow in the breeze. (Robert Gauthier / LAT)
Protesters carry a large American flag while marching. (Genaro Molina / LAT)
Los Angeles Police officers ride their bicycles on the sidewalk alongside protesters. (Genaro Molina / LAT)
Fireman watch from the rooftop of Station 29 as protesters march for immigrant rights down Wilshire Blvd on May Day. (Genaro Molina / LAT)
Protesters march down Wilshire Blvd. (Genaro Molina / LAT)
Supporters of immigrants prepare for demonstration in downtown Los Angeles Monday, May 1. (Brian Vander Brug / LAT)
Thousands gather for an immigration rights demonstration in Los Angeles enroute to the steps of City Hall. (Carlos Chavez / LAT)
Marchers in support of immigration reform walk from UCR to city hall in Riverside on Monday morning. (Irfan Khan / LAT)
Jose Navarro, 23, shouts during a rally held at Riverside City Hall in support of immigration reform. (Irfan Khan / LAT)
Ihuiyan Orona , 2, sits on her mother Kristy’s shoulder amidst the flag waving marchers on Lemon Avenue in Riverside. (Irfan Khan / LAT)
Members of the Minutemen and others with anit-immigration views shout as marchers go by at the corner of Ross and Civic Center in Santa Ana. (Mark Boster / LAT)
Several thousand people crowd the Plaza Of The Flags at the Santa Ana Civic Center. (Mark Boster / LAT)
Marchers square off with anti-immigration protesters at the corner of Ross Street and Civic Center Drive in Santa Ana. (Mark Boster / LAT)
Marchers carry signs and chant while making their way down Civic Center Drive in Santa Ana. (Mark Boster / LAT)
Jubilant citizens of Santa Ana drive through the street with Mexican flags flying from their cars on Civic Center Drive. (Mark Boster / LAT)
Marchers carry signs and chant while they proceed down Flower Street in Santa Ana. (Mark Boster / LAT)
Members of the Minutemen and others with anit-immigration views shout as marchers go by at the corner of Ross and Civic Center in Santa Ana. (Mark Boster / LAT)
Marchers carry signs and chant while they march down Ross Street in Santa Ana. (Mark Boster / LAT)
More than 15,000 protesters crammed the west lawn of the state Capitol in Sacramento to protest the way legal and illegal immigrants are treated in the U.S. Marchers converged on the Capitol at 10 a.m. Monday as part of the national day of protest. (Robert Durell / LAT)
Rogelio Zarate, bottom, gives his daughter Esmeralda Zarate, 5, some support as the pair from Sacramento attend the May Day protest on the state Capitol lawn. (Robert Durell / LAT)
More than 15,000 protesters cram the west lawn of the state Capitol in Sacramento. (Robert Durell / LAT)
A man walks past closed stores on Cesar Chavez in East Los Angeles. The streets were quiet and most businesses were closed for the May 1 protests. (Francine Orr / LAT)
The parking lot is empty at the Vallarta Supermarket on Cesar Chavez in East Los Angeles because the store is closed. (Francine Orr / LAT)
Musician Jose Luis Perez, 66, eats soup at the El Apetito restaurant on Cesar Chavez in East Los Angeles. He said, “There is no point in trying to go to work today.” The owner said he kept his business open because the musicians asked him to stay open so they could have some place to eat today. (Francine Orr / LAT)
People participate in a rally against proposed changes in the United States immigration law. (Aurelio José Barrera / LAT)
Most businesses around planned march areas were closed Monday. Immigrants and their supporters gather at Olympic Blvd. and Broadway Ave. in downtown Los Angeles as part of a protest of U.S. immigration policy. (Brian Vander Brug / LAT)
A KFC restaurant was open on Broadway despite a wide boycott. Some protesters opened the door to call for operators to close the restaurant. (Brian Vander Brug / LAT)
Protesters chant for the operators of a Broadway Ave. pizzeria to close as part of a protest of U.S. immigration policy. (Brian Vander Brug / LAT)
U.S. flag-waving protesters gather as part of the protest. (Brian Vander Brug / LAT)
A man has Spring Street all to himself as protesters jammed Broadway, one block away. (Brian Vander Brug / LAT)
Demonstrators march at Broadway and 2nd Street in Los Angeles. (Jerome Adamstein / Los Angeles Times)
Thousands fill Broadway during an immigration protest and rally in downtown Los Angeles. (Luis Sinco / LAT)
A man carries his daughter amid thousands of demonstrators filling Broadway in downtown Los Angeles. (Luis Sinco / LAT)
Immigrants and their supporters gather at Olympic Blvd. and Broadway Ave. in downtown Los Angeles as part of a protest of US immigration policy. (Brian Vander Brug / LAT)
Sergio Campos of LA makes a sign before joining immigrants and supporters gathering at Olympic Blvd. and Broadway Ave. in downtown Los Angeles. (Brian Vander Brug / LAT)
Housekeeping worker Jorge Sanchez showed up for work at a fashion house on Broadway where demonstrators were gathering in downtown Los Angeles. “I have to work,” he said, “ I have to take care of my family.” (Brian Vander Brug / LAT)
Waitress-cashier Graciela Mestas watches marchers pass by Bagatelle Restaurant on 9th Street where she works. (Brian Vander Brug / LAT)
Reseda nurse’s assistant Dennis Argueta rallies demonstrators on Broadway as immigrants and their supporters gather downtown. (Brian Vander Brug / LAT)
Street vendor Miguel Torres of Bell Gardens will try to earn a few dollars by selling his wares to protesters, immigrants and their supporters gathering downtown. (Brian Vander Brug / LAT)
Immigrants and their supporters gather in downtown Los Angeles as part of a protest against immigration policy. (Brian Vander Brug / LAT)
Though the protests were largely peaceful, LAPD officers in riot gear race to quell disturbances in the MacArthur Park area. (Lawrence K. Ho / LAT)
Oswaldo Hernandez, 23, wears a Mexican wrestling mask as he marches down Atlantic Blvd. in Huntington Park. (Damon Winter / LAT)
One of the few outbursts, a man bashes a bus bench billboard in the MacArthur Park area. (Lawrence K. Ho / LAT)
Immigrants and advocates of all ages and abilities marched Huntington Park on Monday. (Damon Winter / LAT)
A man holding a broken sign post taunts the police in the MacArthur Park area. (Lawrence K. Ho / LAT)
Protesting continues into the evening at City Hall in downtown Los Angeles. (Lawrence K. Ho / LAT)
10-year-old Felix Lopez protests into the night at City Hall. (Lawrence K. Ho / LAT)
