RALEIGH - A massive crowd has come to North Carolina's capital for an annual civil rights march beefed up by protesters energized in opposition to President Donald Trump and to a state law limiting LGBT rights.
The "Moral March on Raleigh" in downtown Raleigh on Saturday was led by the North Carolina NAACP. Participants carried signs promoting issues from gerrymandering and immigration to public education.
Trump's election and the North Carolina law known as House Bill 2 were on the minds of protesters like Dave Ruden of Cary. He says Trump's presidency has led him and his wife to work for a moderation of fevered national politics.
Raleigh police don't provide crowd estimates. Event organizers predicted 20,000 people. The surface area that the crowd covered neared the march's previous peak from 2014.