DC, Chicago Women's Marches So Big There Were No Marches

With half-a-million protesters a definite possibility, the march portion of Women's March on Washington is proving an impossibility, the AP reports. A DC official says the entire planned march route to the White House is already packed full of demonstrators. While not making the official march, the hundreds of thousands of people in attendance are still expected to make their way toward a spot on the National Mall near the White House.

The Women's March on Chicago was also canceled for being too popular. Organizers and officials had initially expected 22,000 to turn out for the event, the Chicago Tribune reports. According to NBC Chicago, that estimate later increased to 75,000. But on Saturday, a whopping 150,000 or so people showed up. With hundreds of rallies and marches taking place on all seven continents Saturday, organizers say the Chicago event was the largest outside Washington DC. "This city is making a statement, and the statement is so large we can't move crowds," organizer Jessica Scheller says. While the march was canceled for safety reasons, the rally is going on as planned. "We are just going to sing and dance and make our voices heard," event co-chair Ann Scholhmer told crowd. (More Women's March stories.)