Thousands of students nationwide walked out of their schools on Wednesday to protest gun violence on the one-month anniversary of the Parkland massacre.
Participants in the National School Walkout, a massive protest organized by Youth EMPOWER, a branch of young activists affiliated with the Women’s March, called on Congress to pass stricter gun laws.
The walkouts were set to begin at 10 a.m. in each time zone and last 17 minutes, with each minute representing one of the 17 people killed in the Feb. 14 mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. But students in several states, including New Jersey and Maryland, started marching out of their schools as early as 8 a.m.
Sam Bacon, 18, helped organize a march of hundreds of students at Grace Church School in New York City. The students there have been personally affected by gun violence ― their teacher, Elizabeth Lee, was shot and killed on her way to work in 2017.
“The majority supports common-sense gun reform,” Bacon told HuffPost. “If I as a dumb 18-year-old kid without a college degree can learn about this, support it and activate just by reading the internet, why can’t our elected officials listen to their constituents?”
In the liveblog below, HuffPost has identified participants who are minors by their first name, age and city.
Andy Campbell contributed reporting.
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