WASHINGTON (AP) — The Fourth of July is about all things American: parades, cookouts, cold beer and of course, fireworks. Those pyrotechnics remain at the center of Independence Day, a holiday 247 years in the making. Massive fireworks lit up the skyline of multiple American cities, marking festivities across the country.

The Fourth of July is a celebration of all things American with parades, backyard barbecues and the night sky lit up with fireworks.

Hundreds of protesters who spent the Fourth of July in downtown Los Angeles to rally against the immigration raids that have roiled the region and the surge in federal funding approved this week to keep them going.