Several thousand people marched with all their heart on Tuesday during the 21st annual Women’s Memorial March in the Downtown Eastside to advocate justice for women and to commemorate those who have died due to violence.

Friends and family of murdered and missing women stopped to leave flowers and say prayers at sites where women were murdered or went missing.

The March began at 1 p.m. at Main and Hastings streets. The crowd blocked traffic as they passed through the streets, drumming and chanting.

The Valentine’s Day march is about caring for and respecting each other, said DTES welfare worker Judy Liverick, who said she has observed the violence in the community.

“It’s about protecting those you love,” she said.

Earlier in the day, Jessica Wood, an organizer for the Memorial March committee, expressed her anger at the ongoing Missing Women Inquiry.

“What has happened now is a miscarriage of justice in the hands of people who do not connect to this community and don’t care about the women who have suffered, been lost or murdered here,” she said. “They’ve taken the largest serial killing in Canada and turned it into a circus. That’s not an act of justice.”