Tens of thousands of students left their classrooms to honour the 17 people killed at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, on February 14 by former pupil Nikolas Cruz.
The 19-year-old is facing charges of 17 counts of premeditated murder and 17 counts of attempted murder.
The Valentine’s Day massacre is the latest in a series of high-profile shootings that have plagued schools throughout the United States for more than two decades.
What is national walk out of school day 2018?
Students were joined by teachers as they held mass protests lasting 17 minutes to honour the victims and also highlight the lack of action taken by Congress over gun violence in schools.
The Enough National School Walkout began at 10am in each local time zone (2pm GMT) with around 1,000 events organised so far.
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The umbrella movement is being led by the Women’s March Youth Empower group.
A statement on itd website reads: “Women’s March Youth EMPOWER is calling for students, teachers, school administrators, parents and allies to take part in a #NationalSchoolWalkout for 17 minutes at 10am across every time zone on March 14, 2018 to protest Congress’ inaction to do more than tweet thoughts and prayers in response to the gun violence plaguing our schools and neighborhoods.
“We need action. Students and allies are organizing the national school walkout to demand Congress pass legislation to keep us safe from gun violence at our schools, on our streets and in our homes and places of worship.”
Protestors displayed signs that read ‘Kids not Guns’ and ‘Dear NRA, we won’t let you wIn, sincerely us’ in reference to powerful gun lobby group National Rifle Association, which is protesting against tighter regulation.
Maryland student Sarah Chatfield, said: “We don’t feel safe in schools anymore.” The 15-year-old had joined a crowd of hundreds protesting outside the White House, with some sitting silent with their backs turned.
”Trump is talking about arming teachers with guns. That is not a step in the right direction.”
Others marched on Capitol Hill, while students in states including New York, Washington and California also protested in solidarity.
What are the students protesting about? What happened in Parkland?
The demonstrations are part of a grassroots-led movement by students to force legislators to crack down on gun violence in schools.
Fourteen students and three members of staff died in the Parkland attack, while seventeen others were wounded by spraying bullets – many believe this latest tragedy has marked the turning point for change on gun ownership.
Since the Parkland attack, young people have enjoyed some success in Florida where last week the minimum age for buying any kind of gun was raised to 21 years from 18.
However, policymakers rejected an outright ban on semiautomatic rifles, which was used in the Parkland attack.
And in Washington, plans to strengthen the background-check system for gun sales, among other measures, appear to be languishing.