Chicago women’s march cancelled, but rally will continue

The marching portion of the Women’s March on Chicago was cancelled on Saturday after the crowd ballooned to 150,000, the Chicago Tribune reports.

Initial estimates placed the event’s expected attendance at about 22,000. That number was eventually raised to 50,000. But that estimate ultimately fell short too, prompting organizers to cancel the actual march because the planned route had become too congested.

“Our march route is flooded. There is no safe way to march. We are just going to sing and dance and make our voices heard here,” organizer Ann Scholhamer told a portion of the crowd.

{mosads}While the march itself was cancelled, the rally portion of the event is scheduled to go on, according to the Tribune report.

“We called and you came. We have flooded the march route. We have flooded Chicago,” organizer Liz Radford told the crowd.

The gathering in Chicago is just one of a number of protests and marches taking place in 50 states and more than 60 countries.

In Washington, D.C., the largest gathering on Saturday, attendees gathered on the National Mall to listen to concerts and speeches calling to protect women’s rights and other civil rights that some worry could be threatened under the Trump administration.