Student- led gun protests draw huge crowds

■ More than a million Americans flooded the streets of cities nationwide calling for tighter laws for use of guns

More than a million Americans flooded the streets of cities nationwide for emotional protests demanding tighter gun control on Saturday, protests spearheaded by teenagers from a Florida high school where 17 people were shot dead last month.

“Politicians, either represent the people or get out,” Cameron Kasky, a 17- yearold from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, told the crowd at a huge rally in Washington.

“Stand for us or beware -the voters are coming,” said Kasky, one of the leaders of a dynamic and passionate student movement which has emerged following the February 14 shooting at his school.

Large crowds also turned out for demonstrations in Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Los Angeles, Miami, Minneapolis, Seattle and other cities — more than 800 in all according to the organizers of the “March For Our Lives.”

Mayor Bill de Blasio said 175,000 people took part at the New York rally, tweeting: “These students WILL change America.”

But the largest protest was in Washington, where organizers told NBC News the crowd was estimated at more than 800,000 people, the largest gun control rally in the United States since the Million Mom March in 2000.

The main stage for the event in Washington was set up near the US Capitol and lawmakers were the target audience as speakers delivered blistering warnings that the time has come for stricter gun laws.

“The people demand a law banning the sale of assault weapons,” Kasky said. “The people demand we prohibit the sale of high- capacity magazines. The people demand universal background checks.”

March organizers included a link for people to register to vote on their MarchForOurLives. com website as they seek to transform their nascent movement into a potent political force.

Signs carried by protestors lambasted lawmakers who oppose tougher laws and the National Rifle Association ( NRA), the powerful US gun lobby.

— AP Rae Schalk holds a sign during the ‘ March for Our Lives’ at the Idaho state capitol in Boise on Saturday.