WASHINGTON — Hundreds of thousands of people flocked to the National Mall in D.C. to attend the March for Our Lives on Saturday.
The march was spearheaded in large part by students from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, after a school shoot killed 17 students there. Survivors shared their stories and called for stricter gun laws in the United States.
Student activist and Parkland shooting survivor Emma Gonzalez stood on the stage, describing how in six minutes and 20 seconds, the shooter at Parkland had killed 17 people and injured 14 others.
For the last few minutes, she stood in silence during her speech. People began shouting, “Never again,” as she stared out into the crowd and cried.
A timer went off and she told the crowd that it had been six minutes and 20 seconds since she had come onto the stage before finishing her speech.
Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Junior’s granddaughter’s Yolanda King, 9, spoke at the event and referenced her grandfather’s famous “I have a dream” speech in calling for a “gun-free world.”
“I have a dream that enough is enough,” King said.
An 11-year-old activist, Naomi Wadler, of Alexandria, Virginia, said she was there to represent women of color who were more likely to see gun violence during their life times.
“Ninety-six people die every day because of guns … But most politicians don’t have a public stance on [gun control],” Student organizer and Parkland shooting survivor David Hogg said during his speech, after calling out Florida Sen. Marco Rubio for taking money from the NRA. “We are going to make this a voting issue.”
There were more than 800 sister marches planned all around the world in support of the event with thousands of people attending.
