‘ Vote them out’

> Politicians urged to act as huge crowds gather in US gun protests

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

“Politicians, either represent the people or get out,” Cameron Kasky, a 17-year-old 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 Feb 14 shooting at his school.

“If there is no assault weapons ban passed, then we will vote them out,” Delaney Tarr, another student from the school, told marchers in Washington.

Large crowds also turned out in Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Los Angeles, Miami, Minneapolis, Seattle and other cities – over 800 in all according to the “March For Our Lives” organisers.

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

But the largest protest was in Washington, where organisers told NBC News the crowd was estimated at over 800,000, the largest gun control rally in the US since the Million Mom March in 2000.

The main stage for the Washington event 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. The people demand we prohibit the sale of highcapacity magazines. The people demand universal background checks,” Kasky said.

March organisers 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.

With mid-term Congressional elections eight months away, voter registration activists flocked to the marches to enrol young voters likely to back Democratic and independent candidates who tend to favour tougher firearms laws.

Signs carried by protesters lambasted lawmakers who oppose tougher laws and the National Rifle Association. – Agencies