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“It’s just so overwhelming to see all who have come to stand with us today,” she said. “I mean, look at the masses. Black, white, all races, all religions. … We need to stand like this at all times.”

Several speakers asked the crowd to chant, “I can’t breathe.” Garner, 43, had gasped those words before his death while being arrested for allegedly selling loose, untaxed cigarettes. Some protesters also wore those words on shirts.

Other speakers called for a chant of “Hands up, don’t shoot.”

Just before the crowd marched to the Capitol, the rallying was interrupted briefly by more than a dozen protesters who took the stage with a bullhorn. They announced that they were from the St. Louis area and demanded to speak.

“This movement was started by the young people,” said Johnetta Elzie, who ultimately was allowed by rally organizers to speak.

Organizers called the interruption unnecessarily divisive. But some in the Missouri group, mostly in their 20s, said they were disappointed and found the rally staid and ineffective.

“I thought there was going to be actions, not a show. This is a show,” Elzie said.

Protests – some violent – have occurred around the nation since grand juries last month declined to indict the officers involved in the deaths of Brown and Garner. Before the crowd started marching, Sharpton directed, “Don’t let no provocateurs get you out of line. … We are not here to play big shot. We are here to win.”

Then, blocks of tightly packed people moved through the city. Organizers had predicted 5,000 people, but the crowd appeared to far outnumber that.