Photos by Hansol Hwang
Tens of thousands of marchers gathered in Downtown Los Angeles for the March For Our Lives demonstration, which was a part of hundreds of other March For Our Lives demonstrations that occurred across the nation Saturday on Mar. 23.
Demonstrators assembled near Pershing Square at 9 a.m. and began marching at 10 a.m. toward Grand Park near City Hall, where there were speeches and performances sending a message for gun control.
On the stage at the end of the march route, Mayor Eric Garcetti spoke to the crowd.
“Good morning to our leaders, the students who are here today. They are the ones who are leading the way and we should follow,” Garcetti said. “And thank you to the parents, and the grandparents and the teachers and the friends and the aunts and the uncles who are here today. It is time to protect kids and not protect guns.”
Throughout the march, students’ chants against gun violence and the NRA echoed against the buildings throughout the march route.
“Vote them out.” “No justice, no peace.” “Never again.” “Hey hey NRA, how many kids did you kill today?” “Enough is enough.” “Not one more.” “Not guns, protect the kids.” “More than 17.” “Hey hey, ho ho, the NRA has got to go.” “What do we want? Gun Control. When do we want it? Now.”
Not only did these chants resonate throughout the city and across the nation, but it also resonated with student Wilder Amato.
“I definitely feel the passion. It resonates with me,” Amato said. “As a student, you feel targeted by all the gun violence. It’s just not a good thing to be around and the fact that everybody is rallying around not having it, I think it will start some change in the future.”
Avery Dehart, a student at California State University, Channel Islands, said there should be more gun control.
“I believe that no 18-year-old should be able to purchase a weapon of war. We also need to have more gun control so we can keep our education safe,” Dehart said. “I should not have to go to school and be afraid to go to school [and] be afraid that I am going to be shot by somebody.”
During Garcetti’s speech, he mentioned movements that occurred in history, fueling the passion that energized marchers.
“We will rise up like in the civil rights movement when students became freedom riders to fight for the rights of everybody. Rise up like 50 years ago in East LA when 22,000 students led walkouts against racist teachers and against the school system that was against them,” Garcetti said.
He added, “This fight is for the most basic of your rights. This is a fight for your lives.”
Maria Galante, a mother of two, is originally from the United Kingdom, where the laws regarding guns are more
