Small turnout for May Day march

There were American flags, union banners and vendors hawking treats such as ice cream and hot dogs wrapped in bacon.

But what was missing from this year's May Day march on a crystal-clear Sunday morning were the crowds.

By 10 a.m. only a few hundred immigrant rights and labor activists had gathered at Broadway and Olympic Boulevard in downtown Los Angeles to rally public support for legislation that would legalize the nation's 11 million illegal immigrants.

"It's really sad," Luis Ortiz, an ice cream vendor who has been coming to the rallies for the last 15 years, said of the small turnout. "I've sold very little, almost nothing."  

Plenty of police officers on foot and bike patrol were on hand to monitor the crowd. 

But Sunday's turnout was a far cry from the excitement and unity that infused the May Day march in 2006, when hundreds of thousands of people marched through downtown Los Angeles.

Since then, activists have deemphasized street actions in favor of change at the ballot box through promoting citizenship and voter registration.

Last May, galvanized by Arizona's controversial anti-immigration law, about 60,000 demonstrators took to the streets of L.A.

This year organizers said they expected more than 50,000 people to turn out. But the permit for the event estimated the crowd at about 10,000.

Activists marched north on Broadway and an afternoon rally was scheduled near City Hall. 

-- Sam Quinones

Comments

[Walter]

Ha ha

[teri]

This a a dead issue.The people are more interested in the economy, jobs. If anything, people want them out of here

[Jayne]

Isn't May Day a commie holiday? The reason the "protesters" didn't show was it's a weekend, no free day off school or work.

[Harry Schell]

Well, it is a really lovely day. Maybe the no-shows found something better to do.

[David]

Of course there was a small crowd. There was no school for the kids to ditch so that they could attend.

[johnny]

The crowds showed up later, around noon! The turnout was way bigger; this article is misleading!

[smdahl]

The LA Times is lying again: I was there and there were thousands of marchers. Next time we should occupy the LA Times building and give it back to the people!

[Spokker]

Rallies often turn people against you no matter what your cause is because of the inconvenience such rallies cause. It's more productive to make your statement with your vote.

[ten29me]

Maybe 12 million American citizens should invade our southern neighbors ,fly the AMERICAN FLAG and demand reform,,,,,,,,,,,,Free Medicine ,Education and insist that they change their laws,,,And we will MARCH till their government gives in,,,Maybe the politicians that are in power will make concessions for us AMERICANOS ,,,,,,,,,we will vote for them and keep them in power if they change their Immigration laws,,,,,,YOU THINK??????????

[Martel]

Yes, this is to be expected. Movements "die out" as time passes, thus crowds get smaller. Examples would be the tea party, it got big, then now turnouts are low. The whole anti-war crowd in the Bush era, it started big, and now you rarely hear anything, this sort of thing happens all the time. Why do people act so shock? The enthusiasm is gone.

[JohnnyO]

Yes, this is to be expected. Movements "die out" as time passes, thus crowds get smaller. Examples would be the tea party, it got big, then now turnouts are low. The whole anti-war crowd in the Bush era, it started big, and now you rarely hear anything, this sort of thing happens all the time. Why do people act so shock? The enthusiasm is gone.

Yeap, you're right