Chicago (CNN) Demonstrators marched Saturday on all five northbound lanes of Chicago's Dan Ryan Expressway, bringing the interstate to a standstill after police officials who'd planned to keep the stretch partially open relented.

onto the highway on the South Side Hundreds of marchers, led by the Rev. Michael Pfleger of St. Sabina Catholic Church, crowdedonto the highway on the South Side to protest the city's high gun violence rates . They called for "national common sense gun laws" and, for their communities, more public resources, more jobs, better schools and economic development.

Marchers gained access to all of northbound Interstate 94 between 79th and 68th Streets after a tense encounter with police.

Initially, a line of police officers and their parked vehicles essentially split the northbound highway in half, intending to allow marchers to walk in the right two lanes while keeping two left lanes open to traffic.

But demonstrators, including Pfleger and the Rev. Jesse Jackson, demanded all five lanes.

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