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175,000 crowd the Common for Boston Women's March

BOSTON — About 175,000 people attended the Boston Women's March Saturday at the Common, according to the Mayor's office.

"This is so important to our country, to our freedom. Being a queer woman myself, there's no better place that I could be," said attendant Heather Black.

People of all ages and from all over New England were at the Common, holding signs and chanting. Earlier in the day, the Mayor's officer reported between 135,000 and 150,000 attended the rally, but have since updated that number. The office said the number is based on police and organizer's estimates.

"I'm a child of an immigrant, my daughter is a child of an immigrant," said Hinda Swartz, who was in the sea of people.

The event started with several speakers, including Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Attorney General Maura Healey and Mayor Marty Walsh.

“We can whimper, we can whine or we can fight!”  Warren said.

Walsh said the energy of the crowd needs to be harnessed to make a change.

“We have to organize our neighborhoods, we have to organize women in the workplace to let them know we are not going backwards. We are going forward,” he said.

The cheers were deafening when Warren talked about how everyone needs to be part of the mobilization against backwards thinking.

“First we fight for basic dignity and respect for every human being period. No compromise. No backing up,” she said.

Walsh, Healey and Warren led the march after the speeches ended.

Organizers originally expected 25,000 people at the march, but it swelled in the days before the event. It was one of the largest marches in the United States, with the national march in Washington, DC being the largest at approximately 500,000 people.

“It's amazing I'm so excited to be here. I wanted to go to Washington I didn't work out so I'm thrilled Boston is standing in here in masses,” said Liz Rosenberg.

The march was a mile route around the edge of the Public Garden, onto Commonwealth Avenue, and looped back to the Common.

March organizers worked with the City of Boston, Boston Transportation Department, and local businesses and neighbors to accommodate the crowd. The sheer amount of people overwhelmed the MBTA system. 

Boston EMS said there weren’t any major issues.