Hundreds of thousands march for gun control

Students responded to calls to rally against violence

Chin high and tears streaming, Florida school shooting survivor Emma Gonzalez stood silent in front of thousands gathered for the “March for Our Lives” rally in Washington, D.C.

She continued to stand silently as a few crowd members shouted out support. She remained silent as tentative chants broke out. Her silence continued as those attending also fell quiet, many weeping.

The gripping moment stretched for 6 minutes and 20 seconds, the amount of time Gonzalez said it took a school shooter to kill 17 people and wound many others at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, last month.

Gonzalez is one of several teens from the school to become gun control activists in the wake of the shooting. Their efforts have galvanized youth nationwide, with hundreds of thousands attending similar rallies across the country.

Gonzalez wrapped up the Washington, D.C., rally with some homework for those who demonstrated nationwide:

“One final plug,” she said. “Get out there and vote.”

A series of protests held across the United States Saturday in support of gun control shaped up to be one of the biggest youth protests since the era of the Vietnam War.

The “March for Our Lives” rallies are a call to action by student survivors of last month’s school shooting in Florida that left 17 people dead.

At Washington’s “March for Our Lives” rally, throngs jammed Pennsylvania Avenue for blocks. Tens of thousands of teenagers and their supporters roared their approval as survivors of the Parkland, Florida, assault spoke from the stage. One of them, Delaney Tarr, laid down the students’ central demand, a ban on assault-type weapons, and declared “We will continue to fight for our dead friends.”

A vast crowd also rallied in New York City and large marches unfolded in Boston, Chicago, Houston, Minneapolis and scores of other cities. More than 20,000 rallied in Parkland near the school.

Hundreds of thousands of demonstrators at student-led anti-gun rallies held across the United States were joined by counterparts the world over.

In Paris, France about 100 demonstrators rallied near the Eiffel Tower in solidarity with the American “March for Our Lives” events.

Caitlin Waters, co-organizer of the Paris event, said it’s important for Americans overseas to let Washington know that they want more gun control. Similar rallies were planned in New Zealand, Japan and other countries around the world.

High school students led thousands of protesters in Seattle.

Students held signs reading “Not One More” and chanted “Right now, right here, we refuse to live in fear.” Teachers protested President Donald Trump’s proposal to arm some of them in order to protect students from potential attackers.

Much of the protest was directed at the National Rifle Association.

“I want to know that they care more about lives than profit, the NRA,” said Naa’Rai Taison, a 19-year-old student at Cornish College of the Arts. “We can still hold on to our traditions without having to lose lives.”

ANDREW HARNIK — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Emma Gonzalez, a survivor of the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., closes her eyes and cries as she stands silently at the podium for the amount of time it took the Parkland shooter to go on his killing spree during the “March for Our Lives” rally Saturday in support of gun control in Washington.