U.S. GUN LAWS: STUDENTS WALK OUT OF CLASSES

LITTLETON: Thousands of students walked out of classes across the US on Friday, marking the 19th anniversary of the massacre at Columbine High School with a show of unity aimed at pressuring politicians to enact tighter gun restrictions.

Students from more than 2,600 schools and institutions were left their classes, organisers said. Many wore orange, a colour that has come to represent the movement against gun violence, as they observed a 13-second silence in honour of those killed at Columbine. Waving placards with slogans including “No more gun violence” and “I should be worried about grades, not guns,” they walked out of school in cities including New York, Detroit and Washington.

Outside the White House, scores of young protesters sat in silence while they listened to the names of gun violence victims read aloud. “It’s an issue that’s been in this country for a long time,” said Ayanna Rhodes, 14, who walked out of Washington International School. “(The Columbine killings) happened like 20 years ago, and we are still getting mass shootings in schools.” On April 20, 1999, two Columbine seniors rampaged through their school, killing 12.