Low turnout for US immigration rallies

Many immigrants hoped that rallies across the US would give new life to a movement struggling to win a way for 12 million people in America's shadows to eventually become citizens.

Instead, turnout was low compared to the throngs that filled the nation's streets a year earlier, leaving uncertainty about the impact and direction of the movement in shaping an immigration system that is considered broken by both conservative anti-illegal immigration groups and advocates for amnesty.

"After working 22 years here, paying taxes and being a good citizen, I think it's fair they give me residency," said Los Angeles protester Manuel Hernandez, 38-year-old Mexican who along with his wife and two children is undocumented. "It's not fair we don't have documents."

In Los Angeles, where May 1 protests in 2006 brought out several hundred thousand at various activities, about 25,000 came out for a rally, said police Capt. Andrew Smith, incident commander for the march.

In Chicago, where more than 400,000 swarmed the streets a year earlier, police officials put estimates at about 150,000, by far the country's largest turnout.

Protests were largely peaceful except for an evening rally at a park in Los Angeles, where several people threw rocks and bottles at police and at least person was arrested, said Officer Mike Lopez.

Police fired rubber bullets and used batons to push the crowd out of the street and back onto the pavement.

An unknown number of officers and protesters were taken to the hospital with injuries, Lopez said.

Police Chief William Bratton said "certain elements of the crowd" started the disturbance and promised an investigation to determine what happened and whether police used excessive force.

"The vast majority of the people that were here were behaving appropriately," Bratton said.

Protesters said that while anger over immigration raids brought some people out, fear also kept many at home.

Organisers had long predicted lower turnouts, blaming stepped-up immigration raids, frustration that marches have not pushed Congress to pass immigration reform legislation and a concerted effort by many groups to focus on citizenship and voter registration drives instead of street mobilisations.