Rotorua Daily Post

Survivors lash out at Trump

Students plan marches, vow to pressure lawmakers

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United States

Students who escaped the deadly school shooting in Florida have focused their anger at President Donald Trump, contending that his response to the attack has been needlessly divisive.

“You’re the President. You’re supposed to bring this nation together, not divide us,” said David Hogg, a 17-year-old student at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in South Florida, speaking on Meet the Press. “How dare you.”

Hogg was responding to Trump’s tweet on Sunday that Democrats hadn’t passed any gun control measures during the brief time they controlled Congress with a super-majority in the Senate. Trump also alluded to the FBI’s failure to act on tips that the suspect was dangerous, while bemoaning the bureau’s focus on Russia’s role in the 2016 election.

The students are organising marches and rallies in Washington and other major US cities on March 24 — called March For Our Lives — to demand action on gun violence.

Meanwhile, organisers behind the Women’s March, an anti-Trump and female empowermen­t protest, called for a 17-minute, nationwide walkout by teachers and students on March 14, while the Network for Public Education, an advocacy organisati­on for public schools, announced a day of walkouts, sit-ins and other events on school campuses on April 20, the anniversar­y of the 1999 shooting at Columbine High School in Colorado that left 12 students and one teacher dead.

Trump was at his Florida estate yesterday but did not mention the attack in a series of tweets. After more than a day of criticism from the students, the White House said the President would hold a “listening session” with unspecifie­d students on Thursday and meet with state and local security officials on Friday.

Florida politician­s, meanwhile, scrambled to produce legislatio­n in response to Thursday’s attack that killed 17 people. Nikolas Cruz, a 19-yearold who had been expelled from the school, is being held without bail in the Broward County Jail, accused of 17 counts of firstdegre­e murder.

In a TV interview, Republican Senator Marco Rubio embraced a Democratic bill in the Florida legislatur­e to allow courts to temporaril­y prevent people from having guns if they are determined to be a threat to themselves or others. Governor Rick Scott, also a Republican, attended a prayer vigil a few blocks from the shooting site. He was expected to announce a legislativ­e package with GOP leaders of the legislatur­e this week.

Emma Gonzalez, another student who survived the attack, cited Trump, Rubio and Scott by name in a warning to politician­s who are supported by the National Rifle Associatio­n.

“Now is the time to get on the right side of this, because this is not something that we are going to let sweep under the carpet,” she said on Meet the Press.

The students’ pointed comments are the latest signs of increased pressure for gun control after the massacre.

The students have vowed to become the face of a movement for tighter firearm regulation­s. As well as the events on March 24, they plan to visit the state capitol in Tallahasse­e this week to demand immediate action.

— AP

 ?? PHOTO/AP ?? GRIEF: Mourners leave the funeral service of Scott Beigel, a teacher at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, who was killed in Thursday’s mass shooting.
PHOTO/AP GRIEF: Mourners leave the funeral service of Scott Beigel, a teacher at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, who was killed in Thursday’s mass shooting.

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