Burning Atlanta

I expected to see an ok turnout in a few places. I haven't heard about L.A., yet. But the news filtering down is that the numbers are way, way down from a couple of years ago. Atlanta saw a large turnout in 2006. I haven't heard jack about it today. Chicago got a few thousand, I'll guess 3-5 thousand, but I don't know how that compares to past events.

Had to add this about the alibi for the low turnout being the fear-factor. To my knowledge, there's NEVER been any immigration arrests at any of these rallies. There may have been a few disorderly conducts or such. Oh, there was a park in L.A. that the pro-illegals were screaming about how the police were too heavy handed.

Tucson sees big drop.

A May Day immigrant rights march and rally in Tucson has drawn about 1,000 activists to a downtown park.

The turnout was way down from last year's event, when 10,000 to 12,000 people rallied for changes in federal immigration laws.

Damn, I'm good. This comes from the N.Y. Times which is pro-illegal as hell. At least they gave an indication of the drop in numbers. They blame "fear" as the reason for the low turnout. Fear may have played a role but, also, was the fact that many on the pro-illegals side knew that this didn't win them any friends.

3,000 in Chicago

Thousands of supporters of immigrant rights gathered in more than a dozen cities on Thursday afternoon. But the crowds seemed smaller than at comparable events in past years, with the turnout apparently depressed by fear of arrest.

Television footage showed the marchers filling a wide street for several blocks, but Beautrice Cuelo of the Chicago police department bureau of patrol said the number of people in attendance was just under 5,000. That figure is far fewer than the estimated crowd of 150,000 who showed up last year and the nearly half-million who attended in 2006. So far this year, she said, there have been no arrests and no problems.

More news of the whole thing being a big dud.

In Los Angeles, a few thousand people converged on downtown before a major rally. But numbers were nowhere near the 500,000-strong showing in March 2006 that caught authorities off-guard and prompted activists to hail the start of a new civil rights movement.

In Phoenix, no one turned out to march, in contrast to past years when central thoroughfares were packed with activists waving banners and placards.

In Tucson, Arizona, a few hundred pro-immigration supporters walked through the streets carrying placards that read: "Today We March, Tomorrow We Vote" and "Citizenship Yes! Deportation No!" falling short of organizers' hopes that several thousand would attend.

About 1,500 protesters gathered in the south end of New York's Union Square, opposing immigration raids they say have increased on Amtrak passenger trains and Greyhound buses.