What independent crowd estimates exist for National Shutdown protests in New York City and Los Angeles on Jan. 30, 2026?

1. Los Angeles — a specific independent estimate at one location

At a focal site in downtown Los Angeles — outside the Metropolitan Detention Center and a nearby federal courthouse — independent reporting describes scuffles and law enforcement responses, and cites an approximate crowd of about 200 people at the detention center, a figure attributed to the Los Angeles Times and relayed by The Guardian ^[1]; other national outlets described “crowds” in Los Angeles without giving a firm headcount in the pieces provided here ^{[3] [5]}.

2. New York City — no precise independent headcount found in the reviewed reporting

Among the sources reviewed, major outlets confirmed protests in New York City as part of the National Shutdown actions but did not publish a discrete, independently verified numeric estimate for the city’s Jan. 30 demonstrations; The New York Times and Time Magazine described dense crowds and scenes from the city but did not provide a specific crowd-size figure in the excerpts available ^{[2] [3]}, and other national coverage simply listed New York among many cities holding actions without a city‑level tally ^{[6] [4]}.

3. Organizers’ claims and earlier local counts offer context but are not independent city tallies

Organizers framed the day as a nationwide general strike and forecast hundreds of actions and broad participation — the National Shutdown site and organizers promoted walkouts and “no work, no school, no shopping” actions nationwide ^{[7] [8]} — and outlet summaries reported thousands in Minneapolis and widespread activity elsewhere ^{[6] [9]}; these claims provide context for participation levels but are organizer figures or national aggregates rather than independent, city‑specific crowd counts for New York City on Jan. 30 ^{[7] [6]}.

4. Why independent estimates vary and why New York’s number is absent from these sources

Independent crowd estimates typically come from police, newsroom tallies, or social‑media compilation; the pieces reviewed here show that some outlets (or their local partners) offered distinct counts at particular flashpoints — for example the LA detention center ^[1] — while others focused on narrative, images or national totals that did not translate into a single New York figure in the excerpts provided ^{[2] [3] [4]}; absence of a NYC headcount in these sources may reflect editorial emphasis on on‑the‑ground incidents, diffused actions across multiple sites, or that local reporters did not publish a consolidated estimate in the stories collected ^{[2] [3]}.

5. Alternative sources and next steps to get a firm NYC number

To obtain a rigorous independent estimate for New York City on Jan. 30, one should consult the New York City Police Department (if it released a crowd estimate), local New York newsroom dispatches or follow‑up pieces that might publish a consolidated tally, and independent research groups that specialize in event crowding; none of those specific, independently sourced numerical tallies for NYC appear in the set of items reviewed here ^{[2] [3] [4]}, so any precise New York figure would require checking those local records or later news updates.

6. Bottom line

The clearest independent crowd estimate located in the reviewed reporting is the roughly 200‑person figure for the crowd outside the Los Angeles Metropolitan Detention Center cited via the Los Angeles Times and reported by The Guardian ^[1]; for New York City, the reporting indicates demonstrators and “dense” crowds in some locations but does not provide a single, independently sourced numeric estimate in the materials examined ^{[2] [3] [4]}, and therefore a firm NYC headcount is not supportable from these sources alone.