Culture

Hundreds Of Thousands Of Protesters Have Rallied Across The US Demanding Tougher Gun Control

"Fight for your lives before it's someone else's job"

by Tom Clift  25 March 2018
March For Our Lives

Want more Junkee in your life? Sign up to our newsletter, and follow us on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook so you always know where to find us.

Hundreds of thousands of people have rallied in cities across the United States to demand that their government enact tougher gun control legislation.

Upwards of half-a-million demonstrators attended the March for Our Lives in Washington D.C., while more than 800 sister protests took place in towns and cities across the country and the world.

18-year-old Emma Gonzalez, a survivor of the Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in Parkland, Florida, and a co-founder of the #NeverAgain movement, addressed the crowd in D.C., before leading them in an extended moment of silence.

Gonzalez was joined by a number of prominent figures at the Washington march, including the nine-year-old granddaughter of Martin Luther King Jr.

“My grandfather had a dream that his four little children will not be judged by the colour of their skin but by the content of their character,” Yolanda Renee King told the crowd. “I have a dream that enough is enough. And that this should be a gun-free world. Period.”

At the New York rally, former Beatle Paul McCartney paid tribute to his bandmate John Lennon, who was murdered by a gunman in 1980.

“One of my best friends was killed by gun violence right around here, so it’s important to me not just to march today but to take action tomorrow,” the musician told CNN.

Many of the protesters chanted anti-NRA slogans and carried signs calling on politicians to take action.

—

Feature image via Isabel/Twitter.