‘We won’t be ignored: today we fight, we roar’
Survivors of Florida massacre lead anti-gun march on Washington as rallies take place across US
HUNDREDS of thousands of protesters descended on Washington and rallied across the United States yesterday in what anti-gun campaigners hoped would be a pivotal moment in their attempt to end mass school shootings.
The March For Our Lives, one of the biggest demonstrations in the US capital since the Vietnam War era, was led by survivors of last month’s massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, in which 17 people died.
From a stage near Congress, Alex Wind, 17, a Parkland pupil, told a huge crowd: “They say the young are insignificant. Well, Joan of Arc fought back English forces when she was 17 yearsold. Mozart was eight when he wrote his first symphony.”
Fellow pupil Delaney Tarr, 17, said: “If they continue to ignore us we will take action until they cannot ignore us any more. Today, we fight. Today, we roar.”
Survivor Emma Gonzalez, 18, stood silent on stage for six minutes and 20 seconds, the time the school shooting took. Tears streamed down her face as the crowd chanted: “Never Again.”
Yolanda Renee King, the nine-yearold granddaughter of Martin Luther King Jr, echoed his most famous speech. She told the crowd: “My grandfather had a dream that his four little children would not be judged by the colour of their skin, but by their character. I have a dream that enough is enough, and that this should be a gunfree world, period.”
Many children brought several generations of their families, including ba- bies in strollers and grandparents in wheelchairs.
Eight-year-old Larisa Jeffers, wearing a Harry Potter scarf and glasses, was one of three generations of the Doros family who came from Philadelphia. She said her teacher had talked to her about what to do if there was a shooting at school, and she felt unsafe sometimes in class. “I hope people listen to us,” she said.
The crowds stretched away down Pennsylvania Avenue, past the Trump International Hotel, towards the White House. Mr Trump had flown to Mar-aLago in Florida the previous evening.
Young protesters carried signs with messages including “Am I Next?” and “Arms Are For Hugging”.
One young boy wore a skeleton costume and held a sign saying “Do I Look Like A Target?”. He clutched the hand of his younger sister who wore a teddy bear outfit.
Diton Dashaj, 37, had his two-yearold daughter Ezra, who will soon be going to kindergarten, on his shoulders. His wife Christina, 34, said: “When you go to look at schools now parents are having to ask, ‘What is your school shooting policy? Where do the kids hide if it happens?’”
Many younger people at the rally chanted “Hey-ho, hey-ho, the NRA has got to go”, directing their anger at the National Rifle Association, the powerful gun lobby.
Others railed against Republican politicians, accusing them of being financially beholden to the NRA and of blocking gun control proposals.
Julia Bishop, 18, a survivor of Park- land, said she was pleased that pressure from teenagers had helped to raise of the minimum age for buying a rifle in Florida from 18 to 21, and a three-day waiting period for purchasers.
But she said: “I’m worried this will blow over like every other mass shooting. Nearly 60 people were killed in the Las Vegas one and we were sad for a week and nothing happened, no one did anything about it.”
A recent poll showed that 69 per cent of Americans, including half of Republicans, now favour stronger gun control laws.
On the eve of the march, Mr Trump announced he was pushing through a measure to ban “bump stocks”, a device that allows semi-automatic weapons to fire like machine guns.
An NRA spokesman said it had not taken a position on the protests.
The Washington rally was among more than 800 events across the US and worldwide. Large rallies took place in New York, Chicago and Los Angeles.
Several celebrities joined the marchers such as George Clooney and wife Amal. In New York, Sir Paul McCartney spoke about the death of John Lennon as he marched, saying: “One of my best friends was killed in gun violence right around here, so it’s important to me.”
Democrats were hoping to register at least 25,000 first-time voters at the rallies. Richard Blumenthal, a Democrat senator, said: “What’s so extraordinary about these young people is how articulate and committed they are. They are the voice of a new movement, much like the civil rights movement.”
Among older demonstrators there was a common theme, with many saying they felt they had “failed” young people.
Richard Urycki, 68, from Akron, Ohio, said: “I’m here to support them because my generation let them down. I never saw the sense of guns for anything apart from hunting, but I wasn’t politically active until now.”
‘Nearly 60 people were killed in the Las Vegas one and we were sad for a week and nothing happened, no one did anything about it’