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DENVER -- Nearing the end of a week that's seen massive protests in response to non-indictments in excessive force cases from Ferguson, Missouri to New York City, hundreds of low-waged workers marched onto the 16th Street Mall at lunchtime today to call for economic justice -- a $15 an hour minimum wage.

Most of the protesters were fast food workers, who were joined by home health care workers, gas station attendants, clergy and labor leaders in what was part of a national day of action with strikes and marches in 190 U.S. cities.

Deborah Sandoval, a McDonald's employee who took part in the noon rally outside the McDonald's at the east end of the Mall,said burger flippers and fry cooks like her are literally starving because of their low wages.

"I used my last $43 on Tuesday to get two days worth of food," she said. "Minimum wage does not cut it anymore. I cannot provide for my children and my family."

Sandoval, who has spent 14 years working on and off in the fast food industry, lives with her fiancee and three other adults in a two-bedroom apartment that they all share. She has more than a year's worth of credits toward a certificate as a nurse's assistant, but finishing her degree isn't possible when she's struggling to put food on the table.

Colorado's minimum wage is $8 an hour.

Activists marching Thursday want it raised to $15 an hour and the ability to join a union, which they believe would bring more job security.

"It's about money on the one hand, but also about dignity and respect and what's best for the common good, because we all pay as taxpayers for the folks being on public assistance," said Rev. Daniel Klawitter, whose group, the Interfaith Workers Justice Network, supported Fight for $15 protests nationally on Thursday.

"And these folks don't want to do that -- they're working."