Hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants and migrant workers took to the streets of America on Monday to protest against the threat of criminal action against them, and to demand the right to US citizenship, writes Quentin Peel.

On the same day in Europe, eight of the wealthiest countries in the European Union confirmed that they would maintain restrictions on free labour mobility within the EU, in an effort to curb migration flows from the new member states in central and eastern Europe. So far there has been no sign of popular protest.