Thousands mark King's 'I have a dream' speech

Busloads from around the country turned out in the capital for the event organizers hoped would force Republican administration policy changes and get minorities and working class Americans out to vote in the 2004 presidential election.

"We still have a lot of work to accomplish," Martin Luther King III, whose father's historic speech on Aug. 28, 1963, was a defining moment for the American civil rights movement, told Reuters.

Tap Here to Add The Daily Star As A Trusted Source

"It doesn't mean we haven't made any progress but a lot of work still must be done before the dream and vision that my father shared will come to fruition," King said.

A broad coalition of more than 100 groups took part in activities including prayer, song and poetry, culminating in the march.

Socialists, Communists, opponents of U.S. policy on Cuba, Iran and Iraq, Falun Gong members, and people pushing for better national education collected in front of the Abraham Lincoln Memorial on the national mall.

Speakers included representatives from Hispanic and Arab American communities, from anti-war and gay rights movements as well as from leading black groups.

The event kicks off a 15-month campaign to highlight concerns about racial, environmental and economic issues and the Bush administration's "war on terrorism."

"This administration is focused strictly on the rich and the super rich," said King, who is president of the Atlanta-based Southern Christian Leadership Conference.