ON THE MARCH

Fla. school survivors ready to take lead in D.C.

SURVIVORS OF the Florida school shooting rallied in Washington Friday ahead of an antigun demonstration expected to draw up to 50,000 to the nation’s capital.

Students from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School met with lawmakers and called for stricter gun laws in a dizzying day of pre-march events.

Demitri Hoth captured the urgency of the student-led movement to end gun violence in a morning news conference on Capitol Hill.

“America: We are your future. Why won’t you protect us?” Hoth said.

Saturday’s March for Our Lives rally is the culmination of an extraordinary push by Douglas students to galvanize public opinion against the National Rifle Association and the politicians it funds.

New York is among several major U.S. cities poised to host satellite rallies in a display of solidarity.

The students quickly became the face of the anti-gun violence movement following the shooting in Parkland that killed 17 students and staffers on Feb. 14.

On social media and in a series of public events around the country, the teen activists have kept up a relentless campaign for stricter gun laws, including a ban on assault-style rifles and high-capacity magazines.

Washington-bound buses carrying scores of teens rolled out from Florida and other states across the South and Midwest on Friday.

“One of our goals is to show them we’re not going to stop,” Douglas junior Lorena Sanabra said. “This is just the beginning of the movement, because this march, I think everyone’s going to realize how much support and how much popularity it’s gained. We’ve got marches in every single state, we’ve got marches all over the world. ”

Survivor Aalayah Eastmond, who was trapped under a dead classmate’s body during the massacre, said that the march kept her from thinking back on that day.

“Being here, and being busy, and being out with my friends...that takes my mind completely off what’s happened. And that’s very good for me right now, because reliving it is not what I need,” Eastmond said.

She turned 17 on Thursday.

Christina Carrega, Andrew Keshner and Ben Chapman Students from Brooklyn’s Ascend charter schools take to the steps of Borough Hall Friday urging an end to gun violence after killing of Brooklyn teen Rohan Levy last month.

Rep. Ted Deutch (D-Fla.) is joined by students and parents at rally Friday on Capitol Hill.