LOS ANGELES (CBSLA) — Today is May Day, and downtown Los Angeles braced for the annual May Day march of union members, immigrant-rights advocates and community activists.

The march began at midday, with participants gathering in Pershing Square as early as 4 a.m.

Organizers said they would focus this year on defending workers’ rights, halting deportations that break up families and urging residents to vote in the upcoming mid-term elections.

“We’re here to say that we stand for our inherent worth and our inherent dignity and with all vulnerable peoples, whether it be immigrants, workers, or others who are being disenfranchised by this administration,” said Rabbi Jonathan Klein, who will be among the faith-based organizations participating in the march.

A rally in front of the Immigration Court building adjacent to the park kicked things off, then the march began by going east on Sixth Street, north on Main Street and east on Temple Street, ending outside the Roybal Federal Building at 255 E. Temple St., where another rally was held.

Although the Pershing Square march was expected to be the primary event of the day, other marches were being planned in the area.

The Full Rights for Immigrants Coalition and the People’s Congress of Resistance sponsored a march beginning at 1:30 p.m. at Olympic Boulevard and Broadway, with participants scheduled to march north on Broadway, bound for a rally on Broadway between Temple and First streets.

A later march was planned at 2:30 p.m. in Boyle Heights, beginning at Cesar Chavez Avenue and Mathews Street, ending at Mariachi Plaza, 730 Pleasant Ave. Along the way, the group stopped for a rally outside the LAPD’s Hollenbeck Station to denounce police killings. Organizers said the march included students from Roosevelt and Garfield high schools, along with immigrant families who spoke out against what they call a proliferation of private charter schools.

Union del Barrio Los Angeles was planning a separate march at 4 p.m. beginning at MacArthur Park and ending at Los Angeles City Hall, supporting workers’ rights, the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program and legalization of street vending in the city.

A counterprotest was held by the United Patriot National Front, starting with a rally on Broadway and First Street at 4 p.m.

“The opposition will be marching to keep criminals from being deported and we will show the nation that we will not stand by idle as these communists try to ruin our country,” according to a posting on the group’s Facebook page.

(© Copyright 2018 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. City News Service contributed to this report.)