NEW YORK (AP) _ Hundreds of thousands of people demanding U.S. citizenship for illegal immigrants... AP Update at 2:58 am EDT..

NEW YORK (AP) _ Hundreds of thousands of people demanding U.S. citizenship for illegal immigrants took to the streets in dozens of cities from New York to San Diego on Monday in some of the most widespread demonstrations since the mass protests began around the country last month.

Rallies took place in communities of all sizes, from a gathering of at least 50,000 people in Atlanta to one involving 3,000 people in the farming town of Garden City, Kan., which has fewer than 30,000 residents.

Demonstrators in New York City held signs with slogans such as "We Are America," "Immigrant Values are Family Values," and "Legalize Don't Criminalize." One sign said: "Bush Step Down."

"We love this country. This country gives to us everything," said Florentino Cruz, 32, an illegal worker from Mexico who has been in the United States since 1992. "This country was made by immigrants."

The protesters have been urging lawmakers to help an estimated 11 million illegal immigrants settle legally in the United States. A bill passed by the House would crack down on illegal immigrants and strengthen the nation's border with Mexico. A broader overhaul of immigration law stalled in the Senate last week.

Monday's demonstrations followed a weekend of rallies in 10 states that drew up to 500,000 people in Dallas and tens of thousands elsewhere. Dozens of other rallies, many organized by Spanish-language radio DJ's, have been held nationwide over the past two weeks, including one with more than 500,000 people in Los Angeles.

In the nation's capital, thousands of immigrants, their families and supporters marched Monday from Hispanic neighborhoods past the White House, then converged on the National Mall.

In North Carolina and Dallas, immigrant groups called for an economic boycott to show their financial impact. In Pittsburgh and other cities, protesters gathered outside lawmakers' offices. At the Mississippi Capitol, they sang "We Shall Overcome" in Spanish.

The Rev. James Orange from the Georgia Coalition for the People's Agenda compared the march to civil rights demonstrations led by the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and farm-labor organizer Cesar Chavez.

In New Jersey _ with the Statute of Liberty in the background _ several hundred people listened to speeches in Spanish and waved U.S., Colombian and Mexican flags.

Thick crowds gathered in New York's Washington Square Park before marching to City Hall. Many waved flags, both American and of countries of their origin. Korean-Americans beat drums nearby. Another group marched from Chinatown, and a third demonstration took place in Brooklyn.

One of the Korean drummers, Grace Nam, 35, who is an American citizen, said: "We just need to make our voices heard. You want to live in a place where people are treated with dignity."

Peter Lanteri, director of New York's chapter of the Minutemen, a volunteer border watch group, said he thought it was "ridiculous" that illegal immigrants were protesting for their rights.

"Illegal is illegal, and they break our laws to come here," Lanteri said by telephone. "We want the illegal immigration stopped and the borders secured."

In Los Angeles, Cardinal Roger Mahony led thousands of protesters in prayer outside a downtown church, calling on Congress to hear their pleas, before the crowd began an evening march. Police estimated the crowd at 7,000.

In Phoenix, police and organizers estimated that about 100,000 people marched from the state fairgrounds to the Capitol for a rally. Exit ramps were closed and traffic on freeways through downtown was backed up for miles. At one point, the crowd stretched more than two miles.

In Houston, event organizers estimated that 50,000 people gathered at a park in a largely Hispanic area of town as they rallied to march toward the spot where the city's founders first arrived.

More than 2,500 protesters gathered in a Homestead, Fla., park, where organizers displayed baskets of fresh fruits and vegetables as a reminder that much of the country's harvest is picked by illegal immigrants.

Maria Santiago, 53, an outreach coordinator for nonprofit health clinic in Harrisburg, Pa., said she sees many illegal immigrants seeking access to health care.

"These are people that are willing to take any job, clean bathrooms, scrub floors for a measly penny so that they have an opportunity to live in this country ... and yet we want to send them back because they want a better life?" Santiago said.

Associated Press writers Matthew Verrinder in Jersey City, N.J., Juan A. Lozano and Alicia A. Caldwell in Houston, Giovanna Dell'Orto in Atlanta, Martha Raffaele in Harrisburg, Pa., Roxana Hegeman in Wichita, Kan., Jacques Billeaud in Phoenix, and Anabelle Garay in Dallas contributed to this report.

ROME (AP) _ Italy's parliament headed toward an unprecedented split on Tuesday between Premier Silvio Berlusconi's conservative coalition and one led by his center-left rival _ the result of a national vote that could stall the formation of a new government.

Final results in the two-day vote ending Monday showed Romano Prodi's center-left coalition gaining control in the lower house of parliament, with 49.8 percent of the vote compared to 49.7 won by Berlusconi's conservatives. The winning coalition is automatically awarded 55 percent of the seats.

According to the results, Berlusconi's center-right coalition held a one-seat lead in the Senate; six seats elected abroad were still to be counted, but if the lead stands, the split could usher in a new period of political instability for Italy.

Berlusconi's spokesman contested the victory claim, and a top official in Berlusconi's Forza Italia party indicated the conservatives would request a recount "in order to have a result that we really can consider certain and final."

During his tenure as premier, Berlusconi, a flamboyant billionaire, had strongly supported President Bush over Iraq despite fierce Italian opposition to the war. Prodi, an economist, said he would bring troops home as soon as possible, security conditions permitting. But the issue was largely deflated before the campaign began, when Berlusconi announced that Italy's troops there would be withdrawn by year's end.

For hours after the vote ended Monday, projections and returns swung dramatically back and forth between the two, and without the vote from abroad, the election's outcome was still unclear. Voter turnout was about 84 percent.

The Senate and lower chamber of parliament have equal powers, and any coalition would have to control both in order to form a government. Some center-left and center-right leaders have said if neither side controls both houses, new elections should be called.

"If there's a different majority between the Senate and the Chamber we need to go back to the polls," leading center-left lawmaker Luciano Violante said earlier in the day.

If parliament is split, President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi _ a grandfatherly, highly respected economist and independent from partisan politics _ could try to name a government of technocrats at least until another election. He could also seek to fashion a coalition of left and right, but considering the bitter divisions among Italy's political parties, that seemed unlikely.

Culture Minister Rocco Buttiglione and several other politicians said early Tuesday that both sides must pull together, if only to handle urgent economic matters and the election of a new president after Ciampi's mandate expires in May.

"We have to immediately send a message to the markets, to whomever wants to invest in Italy that the country is not going to fall apart," Cabinet Minister Rocco Buttiglione said.

Berlusconi, a 69-year-old media mogul and Italy's longest-serving premier since World War II, was battling to capture his third term with an often squabbling coalition of his Forza Italia party, the former neo-fascist National Alliance, pro-Vatican forces and the anti-immigrant Northern League.

The 66-year-old Prodi, a former premier, was making his comeback bid with a potentially unwieldy coalition of moderate Christian Democrats, Greens, liberals, former Communists and Communists.

Italians were mainly preoccupied by economic worries. Berlusconi failed to jump start a flat economy during his tenure, but promised to abolish a homeowner's property tax. Prodi said he would revive an inheritance tax abolished by Berlusconi, but only for the richest; he also promised to cut payroll taxes to try to spur hiring.

The premier's critics have accused him of pushing through laws to protect his business interests, which include Italy's main private TV networks, the Milan soccer team, as well as publishing, advertising and insurance interests.

Some analysts had suggested that Ciampi could give the mandate to form a new government to whoever won the lower house, whose members are elected by a wider number of people. Italians must be at least 25 to vote for the Senate, but 18 to vote for the lower house.

Franco Pavoncello, a political science professor at John Cabot University, said Ciampi's role would have to be that of mediator. But, he added, "If everything is blocked it's useless for him to waste his time."

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