Hundreds of people took to the streets of Chicago on Saturday to march in protest against the violence that has hit the city in 2016.

The city has seen its most violent year in nearly two decades, with 780 people losing their lives. According to the Chicago Sun Times, the vast majority of the deaths were gun-related, but cases of domestic violence, child abuse and stabbings were also seen in the statistics. 

On Michigan Avenue, one of the city's main retail thoroughfares, hundreds of people carried crosses in silence, each one with the name of a murder victim engraved on it. 

Speaking to ABC, March organiser Rev. Michael Pfleger said he hoped the visual effect of seeing just how many lives were lost would help people to try and take action to reduce violence in the new year.

"This is a Chicago problem," Pfleger told the news station. "The reason we're on Michigan Avenue is because this is a Chicago problem. And until everybody in Chicago decides it's their problem we're not going to end it." 

Crosses carried up Michigan Avenue to represent victims of violence https://t.co/VsgMpKJNeG pic.twitter.com/hAsOsyv81Q

— FOX 32 News (@fox32news) January 1, 2017

500 people were killed in Chicago in 2015, but that number rose in 2016 to 780.

The crosses will be laid in a vacant lot on the south side of Chicago in the wake of the march.