Glenn Beck touts ‘All Lives Matter’ rally as biggest in Birmingham since MLK

Conservative radio host Glenn Beck, actor Chuck Norris and thousands of other people marched through downtown Birmingham, Ala., over the weekend under the banner “All Lives Matter.”

The “Walker, Texas Ranger” star marched about two rows behind Beck and Alveda King, a niece of Martin Luther King, Jr., who marched in the front of the crowd, according to AL.com.

The crowd numbered 20,000 or more, the outlet reported, noting it could have been the largest march in the city since King in 1963. A blimp also touted “All Lives Matter” overhead.

Biggest March in Birmingham since MLK in 1963 pic.twitter.com/uij08BjdqA

— Glenn Beck (@glennbeck) August 31, 2015

Demonstrators held signs reading “All Lives Matter,” “God is the Answer” and “Love One Another” at the event that drew also Rafael Cruz, the father of presidential candidate Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas).

Debate over the “Black Lives Matter” movement has roiled the country, with activists taking aim at presidential candidates who respond to their protests by declaring that “all lives matter,” saying it misses their message of inequality in society.

The debate over the phrase was heightened over the weekend with the shooting of a police officer in Houston.

A 30-year-old man has been charged with capital murder for allegedly ambushing and killing a Houston sheriff’s deputy. No motive has been identified in the Friday shooting. 

“We’ve heard black lives matter; all lives matter. Well cops’ lives matter too,” Harris County Sheriff Ron Hickman said on Saturday, the day the suspect was arrested.

Sen. Dan Coats (R-Ind.) said on Monday in a statement that, “at this critical time,” President Obama should “use his office and influence to lead our country toward unity and healing.

“We need to stand together against any faction or group that believes some lives are more important than others,” Coats said, adding that Obama should “live up to his pledge to be a uniter, not a divider.”