Tens of thousands rally in US in support of immigrant rights

TENS of thousands of immigrants spilled into the streets in dozens of cities across America yesterday in peaceful protests that some compared to the movements led by the Rev Martin Luther King Jr and farm-labour organiser Caesar Chavez.

"People of the world, we have come to say this is our moment," said Rev James Orange of the Georgia Coalition for the People's Agenda in Atlanta, where police estimated that at least 50,000 people marched yesterday morning.

At the Mississippi Capitol, 500 demonstrators sang "We Shall Overcome" in Spanish. In Pittsburgh, protesters gathered outside Sen Arlen Specter's office to make their voices heard as Congress considers immigration reforms.

Groups in North Carolina and Dallas called for an economic boycott by immigrants to show their financial impact.

The rallies had a noticeable impact on production at Excel Corp plants in Dodge City, Kansas, and Schuyler, Nebraska, a spokesperson for the nation's second largest beef processor said. He said there was a slowdown, but the company had no intention of taking action against workers who were gone for the day.

The protesters had two targets in Georgia: congress members weighing immigration reform and state legislation now awaiting Gov Sonny Perdue's signature that would require adults seeking many state-administered benefits to prove they are in the US legally.

Nineth Castillo, a 26-year-old waitress from Guatemala who joined the Atlanta march, said she has lived in the United States for 11 years "without a scrap of paper".

Asked whether she was afraid to parade her undocumented status in front of a massive police presence, she laughed and said: "Why? They kick us out, we're coming back tomorrow."

In Arizona, police estimated that at least 25,000 demonstrators turned out in Phoenix while several thousand others demonstrated in Tuscon.

In the Midwest, an estimated 3,000 people demonstrated in Garden City, Kansas, a farming community that counts fewer than 30,000 residents.

In Champaign, Illinois, hundreds of demonstrators marched along a busy street to the University of Illinois campus, carrying signs with slogans such as: "The pilgrims had no green cards."

The demonstrations were mostly peaceful, though in Portland, Maine, one demonstrator clashed with a small group of counter-demonstrators.

Yesterdays demonstrations followed a weekend of rallies in 10 states that drew up to 500,000 people in Dallas, 50,000 in San Diego and 20,000 in Salt Lake City. Dozens of rallies and student walkouts have been held in cities from Los Angeles to Chicago to New York over the past two weeks.