100 join antigun violence protest
ABOUT 100 Dunedin people took their place in a worldwide antigun violence movement on Saturday, marching to the Octagon to make their feelings known.
March For Our Lives was a worldwide event which comprised hundreds of marches across the world on March 24.
The protest movement was started by students after the Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in Florida, in which 17 people were killed last month.
For Dunedin organiser Daniel Basubas the March For Our Lives movement is personal.
A Californian who went to school in southern Los Angeles, Mr Basubas, a geography PhD student, grew up with metal detectors and lockdown drills as part of his educational experience.
‘‘We are here to acknowledge all those affected by gun violence,’’ Mr Basubas said.
‘‘There are more than 800 marches happening around the world today and we are all standing here in solidarity with the American people to fight against violence.’’
WASHINGTON: Chanting ‘‘Never again,’’ hundreds of thousands of young Americans and their supporters answered a call to action from survivors of last month’s Florida high school massacre and rallied across the country yesterday to demand tighter gun laws.
In some of the biggest United States youth demonstrations for decades, protesters in cities nationwide called on lawmakers and President Donald Trump to confront the issue. Voter registration activists fanned out in the crowds, signing up thousands of the nation’s newest voters.
At the largest March For Our Lives protest, demonstrators jammed Washington’s Pennsy lvania Ave where they listened to speeches from survivors of the February 14 shooting at the Parkland, Florida Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.
The massive March For Our Lives rallies aimed to break legislative gridlock that has long stymied efforts to increase restrictions on firearms sales in a nation where mass shootings like the one in Parkland have become frighteningly common.
‘‘Politicians: either represent the people or get out. Stand with us or beware, the voters are coming,’’ one shooting survivor said. Taking aim at the National Rifle Association gun lobby, teenagers chanted, ‘‘Hey, hey, NRA, how many kids have you killed today?’’
Youthful marchers filled streets in cities including Atlanta, Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, Miami, Minneapolis, New York, San
Diego and St. Louis.
More than 800 demonstrations were scheduled in the United States and abroad, according to coordinators, with events as far afield as London, Mauritius, Stockholm and Sydney.
Among those marching next to New York’s Central Park to call for tighter gun controls was pop star Paul McCartney, who said he had a personal stake in the debate.
‘‘One of my best friends was shot not far from here,’’ he said, referring to Beatles bandmate John Lennon, who was gunned down near the park in 1980.
President Donald Trump took an unusual diversion along a different route after spending Saturday at his golf club in West Palm Beach, Florida, ensuring that he did not pass any demonstrators who had lined his motorcade’s usual path to MaraLago.