Thousands marched along barricaded downtown streets to honor the labor rights icon César Chávez on Saturday afternoon, using bullhorns to chant slogans in Spanish and English that recalled his legacy and promoted unfulfilled causes of equality today.

Organizers estimated about 15,000 took part in the 14th annual César Chávez March for Justice, believed to be the largest of its kind. Police said the crowd was closer to 5,000. The marchers wound along a three-mile route from Our Lady of Guadalupe Church on the West Side to Alamo Plaza, where speakers capped off the event with cheers and impassioned appeals to carry on Chávez’s legacy.

The event’s grand marshal, Mayor Julián Castro, praised Chávez, who died in 1993, for his nonviolent example that continues for many today who seek greater immigration rights and educational equality and who worked hard to support the recently approved health care reform.

“Today is not just about reflecting about the past or understanding it, it’s also about a resolve for the future,” he said at a pre-march tribute at Plaza Guadalupe. “We also resolve to carry on the spirit of César Chávez of looking to serve others and not only ourselves and thinking of the community and working to create a wonderful American dream for all folks in the United States.”

The marchers chanted “Viva César Chávez” and “Sí se puede,” or “Yes we can,” and wore the same slogans on T-shirts and carried posters with famous quotes by Chávez. Many waved flags that symbolize the plight of farmworkers and the movement Chávez started in 1962: a black eagle against a white and red background.

March organizers bemoaned the resistance of federal, state and local governments to sign off on proposals to recognize Chávez, such as creating a federal holiday in his honor and naming Commerce Street after him. They also took issue with attempts in recent weeks to downplay or remove his contributions from state history textbooks.

It would be an injustice for a man who took on corporate bureaucrats peacefully and brought about better work environments for farm laborers who don’t have a voice, said Jaime P. Martinez, chair of the march’s planning committee.

Martinez accompanied Chávez on marches and peaceful protests in the 1960s and ’70s and recalls with pride how his leadership helped strengthen and create unions that provided greater protections for migrant workers.

“The union movement benefited from his tireless, selfless work,” said Martinez, head of the César E. Chávez Legacy and Educational Fund in San Antonio. “It was a movement for all people of all races.”

One of the marchers and speakers was Arun Gandhi, grandson of the famed champion of nonviolence in India. He was in San Antonio for the Gala for Gandhi’s Kids held Saturday evening at Our Lady of the Lake University.

Gandhi said the march reminded him of the ones led by his grandfather, Mahatma Gandhi — often in hotter temperatures and over longer distances — to protest injustices in India on behalf of the poor. Chávez and his grandfather are kindred spirits who brought about peaceful solutions to injustices for their generation and the ones after, he said.

“We cannot end hate or prejudice or violence through hate, prejudice and violence,” he told marchers who stayed afterward for a short program. “That only multiplies the evil that we are trying to destroy. We need to show those who hate us that … we’re going to transform them through our love.”