In the most recent in a series of national protests for the rights of immigrant workers, Chicagoans organized what was easily the largest May Day march in the country this year. This marks the second year of a massive resurgence of particpation in International Workers Day in the U.S., although local protest organizers dubbed it International Working Families Day to underscore how deportations, raids, and other attacks divide immigrant families. Read More [ 2 ]

March organizers had originally predicted a much smaller crowd when applying for permits this year — but widescale community outrage sparked by the April 25 ICE raid in Little Village boosted turnout expectations, and the final rally site at Daley Plaza was unilaterally moved to Grant Park by police at the 11th hour, despite the vocal objection of sponsoring community groups. Corporate media and police estimates place turnout at 150,000, but Mayday organizers were confident that the final turnout was far higher.

Tuesday's Chicago action was boisterous and peaceful — in stark contrast to the police onslaught that marred May Day in Los Angeles. In LA, cops fired rubber bullets and tear gas into crowds of peaceful marchers and charged old people, parents with children, and people in wheelchairs in an orgy of wanton violence [ Video ] that has sparked growing outrage in California and across the nation. Full coverage: L.A. IMC | Democracy Now! Journalists Covering Los Angeles Immigration March Assaulted by Police

Photos: [ 1 ] Video: [ 1 | 2 ] Radio: Democracy Now! - May Day 2007: Hundreds of Thousands March for Immigrant Rights

Related Links: March 10 Movement | EL Zocalo Urbano | Pueblo Sin Fronteras | Latino Union | Chicago Otra | National Immigrant Solidarity Network | National May 1st Movement for Worker and Immigrant Rights