(Photo: @surajpatelnyc on Instagram)
Thousands of students in downtown Manhattan, North Brooklyn, and elsewhere in the city and around the country walked out of school this morning to demand stricter gun control a month after the deadly mass shooting at a high school in Parkland, Florida. Participants in the National School Walkout ranged from elementary schoolers to high schoolers to teachers and administrators.
Students at Grace Church School, where a street shooting left an administrative assistant dead in November, held hands and formed a human chain around an entire city block, from 10th Street to 12th Street, according to an Instagram post.
Sam Bacon, a student who organized the Grace Church School protest, told Bedford + Bowery, “We hope to continue our advocacy beyond Wednesday’s protest, because we believe that asserting our place within our democracy and sustained efforts that reach our politicians are the only means by which to instigate the change we desire.”
Students from Grace Church and other surrounding schools gathered in Washington Square and Union Square parks chanting, “The NRA has got to go!” and holding signs reading ENOUGH.
Among those whose protests were captured on Instagram were students of Harvest Collegiate High School in Greenwich Village, Success Academy Williamsburg, Bard High School Early College Manhattan, East Side Community High School in the East Village, and all three branches of Williamsburg Northside.
Have a look at the photos and videos, below.