ByChristopher Bucktin
On Thursday the students of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, were joined by 300,000 others across the US in a walkout, part of an emboldened anti-gun movemen
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In their thousands, they walked silently on to the school football field, holding anti-gun violence signs and wearing shirts that read “March for Our Lives.”A month ago, theirs were shattered when pupil Nikolas Cruz, 19, killed 17 with an assault rifle at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.
Today the students in Parkland, Florida, were joined by 300,000 others across the US in a walkout, part of an emboldened anti-gun movement.
At 10am, 3,000 at MSD left their desks to demand change.
One, Liam Kiernan, 15, said: “I’m just mad there’s no action by our government.
“They are not only letting us down, they are letting future generations down too.
“No longer are we going to sit idly by and allow ourselves to become victims of weak politicians. Their thoughts and prayers mean nothing no more. It is action and reform we need.”
The MSD pupils had been dissuaded from leaving the school grounds but, as they gathered for a moment’s silence, it was shattered by the support of neighbouring Westglades Middle School.
Defying teachers, more than 1,500 aged 11 to 14 walked out of their school gates chanting “MSD” and “We want change” in support of the fallen victims and the thousands still in mourning.
Teachers tried to shepherd the pupils back but leader Christopher Krok, 14, said: “No one is going to stop us. We stand here today, along with brothers and sisters across America, saying enough is enough. Never again.”
Among pupils, growing anger was palpable.
Many turned their fury on Donald Trump who, after opposition by the National Rifle Association, ditched a pledge to raise the age limit for semi-automatic rifles to 21.
MSD survivor David Hogg, a leading voice among students, said the President had “shown his cowardice”, adding: “Abandonment of his promises shows how deeply in the pocket of the NRA he is.
He called his own party’s politicians out for fearing the NRA. No one fears them more than him. He puts their blood money, their donations, above the lives of America’s children.
“It’s too late for us. My friends, my peers are the latest victims, but we should be the last. We march in the hope we can make changes that stop future generations’ children having to go through what we have.”
The national walkout was scheduled to last 17 minutes yet many students refused to return to class.
In Washington DC, a huge crowd of chanting youngsters gathered and, as the clock struck 10, sat down silently with their backs to the White House.
Though most could not vote, Abby Silverman of Bethesda, Maryland, said: “We just want the White House to hear us.” At the same time Democrats in the US Senate read the names of young gun violence victims.
Students at Columbine High School in Colorado, where two pupils killed 12 youngsters and a teacher in 1999, joined the walkout. There were also events in the UK, Australia, Israel, Switzerland, Germany and Mexico.
Izzy Harris, a pupil at The American School in London, said students there walked out “to demonstrate that the US government needs to make changes to their gun laws”.
Viacom, which runs MTV, VH1, Comedy Central and Nickelodeon, took programmes off air and showed messages of support during the 17 minutes.
A rally is planned for Washington DC on March 24 and is expected to attract a crowd of 500,000.
It has also inspired similar marches in every state. – Human Rights Watch
