D’Angelo McDade, a student from Chicago, takes the stage. He describes himself as a “victim and victor” of gun violence.
“When will we as a nation learn that we are not here to fight against one another, but we are here to fight for life and peace,” McDade says.
“Violence cannot drive out violence, only peace can do that. Poverty cannot drive out poverty, only resources can do that. Death cannot drive out death, only pro-active life can do that.”
He is talking about how he and his community are survivors of gun violence, and also survivors of having a lack of community resources and government support.
The mile and a half stretch down the side of Central Park may have become familiar ground for protesting New Yorkers since their least favorite resident became president in 2016, writes Max Benwell in New York.
But they joined the March for Our Lives with just as much energy and anger as they had for last year’s Women’s March and last April’s March for Science.
After a snowstorm two days earlier, the sun had decided to join them. It brought a sunny disposition to a demonstration that was as somber as it was uplifting, depending where you looked.
In some pockets people danced and beat drums, while in others the names of murdered students were held up, next to small children with signs demanding protection.
Teenage girls with signs plastered with Spongebob memes mixed with older protesters, babies in prams and cute dogs. On the sidelines, one group of elderly women distributed song sheets that featured We Shall Not Be Moved and Woody Guthrie’s This Land is Our Land.
However the impromptu “Hey hey, ho ho, the NRA has got to go” proved to be the most popular chant of the day.
The column of demonstrators started at 86th Street and proceeded down to 61st. Toward the finish line, the Trump International Tower loomed, and was met with a long stream of “Vote him out!”
One man held up a copy of the latest Time magazine, with the trailblazing Florida activists Emma Gonzalez and David Hogg on its cover, while explaining to his female companions why he didn’t vote.
“Silence is violence,” one of them shot back, putting a quick end to his speech.
Tens of thousands of marchers passed Marjory Stoneman Douglas high school in a respectful silence at the conclusion of Parkland’s March for Our Lives, writes Richard Luscombe, some laying flowers and weeping at the memorials still in place outside for the victims.
The tiny city of Parkland, population 31,500, was swamped by the sheer magnitude of today’s event, with busloads of marchers coming from all over South Florida. Road closures meant lengthy walks in 80F temperatures for many.
Rebecca Price-Taylor, of neighbouring Margate, was emotional as she walked by the school with her daughters Vilani, 11, Veronica, 10, Vivian, 8, and Vanessa, 7.
“My daughters are only a few years from high school, and I don’t want them cowering in the corner of a classroom waiting to be murdered,” she said.
“Enough really is enough. No more of these weapons of war.”
“Our pain makes us family,” said Alex King, a student at North Lawndale College Prep in Chicago.
The 17-year-old is also part of the new anti-gun violence group, Good Kids Mad City.
He spoke about the death of his nephew and how it drove him to do bad things.
“From my colleagues and friends, I found help to come out of a dark place,” he said.
He acknowledged that not everyone has that available and that more resources need to be made available to address the systemic issues that help perpetuate gun violence.
King ended his speech by leading the crowd in his family’s clapping tradition – an impressive feat given the crowd’s enormous size.
“This is a moment of history that I want to be part of,” pop star Miley Cyrus, who sang onstage earlier, told Parkland special correspondent Nikhita Nookala. “This is what Happy Hippie, my foundation is: young people changing the way history is written before us.”
Sam Fuentes, who was injured in the attack at Marjory Stoneman Douglas and still has shrapnel in her face, was just on stage.
The 18-year-old’s speech was briefly interrupted by an upset stomach, but Fuentes continued her remarks resilient as ever: “I just threw up on international television and it feels great.”
She then led the crowd in a rendition of Happy Birthday in honor of Nicholas Dworet, who was killed in the shooting. He would’ve turned 18 today and many of the Parkland students have mentioned him in their remarks.
Relatives of victims of the 1996 Dunblane school massacre in Scotland were among hundreds of people who protested outside the US Consulate in Edinburgh on Saturday as part of a campaign for greater gun control in the US.
The shooting, which killed 16 five and six year olds along with their teacher, led the UK to bring in some of the strictest firearms legislation in the world, outlawing private ownership of most handguns. Gun massacres have been almost unknown in the UK since.
Speakers at the Edinburgh rally, held in solidarity with today’s march, included Jack and Ellie Crozier, whose sister Emma was killed in the Dunblane shooting, and Ali Ross, whose sister Joanna also died.
They read a letter of support to those affected by the Parkland tragedy. The letter, first published on the 22nd anniversary of the Dunblane shooting, stated: “Wherever you march, whenever you protest, however you campaign for a more sensible approach to gun ownership, we will be there with you in spirit.”
Catherine Wilson, who lost her sister Mhairi in Dunblane, also took part in the event, reading her poem For Parkland/The Public I. “I am so overwhelmed and incredibly impressed by the teenagers in America who are walking out of schools and who are demonstrating today,” she said. “Today is a really important mix of both showing that anger and fighting against something that is incorrect, but also offering that support and that love really, to the students in America.”
This is a video message Dunblane relatives recorded for the US marchers:
A message from Dunblane to Florida school shooting survivors – video
Parkland student Nikhita Nookala has been speaking to Martin Luther King III, the eldest son of Martin Luther King Jr, and father of Yolanda King, who spoke at the march earlier today.
This is the first time in many many years that high school students have led, really, a movement— this is the start of a movement. Tomorrow, literally, nothing will happen. But over a great period of time, change can occur.
Rightwing website Breitbart has its own unique take on the march, while the Fox News website is giving it less prominence than many other US news sites.
Student Aalayah Eastmond was in the third Marjory Stoneman Douglas class room to be attacked by the gunman.
She says she is at the rally to speak for her classmates, as well as people killed in urban communities well before this teenager-led movement to end gun violence.
“We need change, now,” she says.
“All of our lives are important and all of our voices need to be heard.”
Aalayah says her uncle died in an act of gun violence in Brooklyn, 15 years ago.
She says yes, she is a Marjory Stoneman Douglas student, but also: “Before this, I was a regular black girl. And after this, I am still black and still regular.”
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