PARKLAND, Fla. -- The march approaching Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, snaked for two miles Saturday, with thousands of students, teachers, parents and supporters chanting in favour of tighter gun laws they believe would have prevented last month's massacre there.
"Enough is enough," they shouted. "No more AR-15s," referring to semi-automatic rifle the killer used.
But when they reached the school, the March for Our Lives participants went stone silent to honour the 17 students and staff members who died, martyrs for a movement that brought hundreds of thousands of people to the streets of Washington, D.C., and cities nationwide Saturday. Protesters are demanding new laws and programs that they believe will curtail mass shootings at schools and elsewhere.
More than 20,000 attended the rally and march in Parkland, a well-to-do Fort Lauderdale suburb of 31,000 that would have been an unlikely spot for a massive street protest before the Feb. 14 shooting put it in the middle of the national gun debate.
"It is ridiculous that we have to do this, that it is even up for conversation," said Sarah Hingoo, a 17-year-old Stoneman Douglas student. "We shouldn't have to do this to change lawmakers' minds. They should just have common sense."
A morning rally filled much of a park two miles from the school, taking on the air of a campaign event. Voter registration booths dotted the sidewalks, friends welcomed friends and music such as Journey's "Don't Stop Believing" and David Guetta's "Titanium" blared from loudspeakers.
Adam Buckwald, a 16-year-old Stoneman Douglas student, told the crowd it's "incomprehensible" that with the previous mass shootings in Las Vegas, Orlando and elsewhere in recent years, no significant changes have been made to federal gun laws.
"How was it possible that when so many innocent lives, many of them children, were murdered that there was no meaningful change to protect us? Our society, our system, our laws, our politicians have failed us," he said.
Samantha Mayor, who was shot in the knee as she studied in her psychology class, hobbled to the podium, her leg in a brace from ankle to hip, to call for funding to retrofit classrooms with bulletproof doors and windows and tighter security. She also pushed for stricter gun laws.
She told of lying on the floor, "hearing and feeling rapid gunfire" as suspect Nikolas Cruz, a 19-year-old former student who had been kicked out because of emotional problems and outbursts, stalked the hallways and classrooms for six minutes.
"My class was struck with the greatest sense of fear when we saw the glass of the door broken; that all the killer had to do was reach his hand in...and turn the doorknob. At that point, it didn't matter that the door was locked," Mayor said. "It didn't matter that we were hiding. It didn't matter that we were silent. He could have entered if he wanted to....He should never have passed a background check. He should have never been able to kill us."
Tony Montalto, whose 14-year-old daughter Gina died in the shooting, stood next to his son, who held up a sign reading "My sister could not make it today." The senior Montalto told the crowd the country needs to enact gun laws most would agree with.
"Compromise, it is not a dirty word," he said. "It is how the world works. It is the only way the world works."
After the rally, the demonstrators moved to the streets. Students wore burgundy T-shirts saying "MSD Strong," listing the names of their classmates. Parents and community members walked with them. They carried signs reading "Protect kids, not guns," "Ban the NRA," and "Our ballots will stop bullets." No counterprotesters were seen.
Isabella Pfeifer, a 16-year-old Stoneman Douglas student and Parkland resident, said after the march it's unimaginable that her town is now the centre of a movement.
"Nothing happens here," Pfeiffer said. "It is the type of town where we have fundraisers for Relay for Life and Breast Cancer Awareness Week. It is not a very controversial town."
