CBS/ AP March 24, 2018, 10:12 AM
Last Updated Mar 24, 2018 12:48 PM EDT
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Tens of thousands of protesters are gathering in Washington, D.C., for a rally advocating for stricter gun control. Organizers of the “March for Our Lives” rally are hoping to draw 500,000 protesters to the nation’s capital on Saturday. The organizers’ website says more than 800 “March for Our Lives” events are planned around the world.
The event in Washington began at 12 p.m ET. CBS News is live streaming the event in Washington, and is covering events at other locations.
The protesters, many of them high school students, claim that the youth leadership of this initiative is what will set it apart from previous attempts to enact stronger gun-control legislation.
Follow a live blog of updates from “March for Our Lives” below:
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Counter-protesters march at Boston rally
12:40 p.m. ET: Thousands of people are marching to Boston Common on Saturday during the “March for Our Lives” gun control rally. When the group arrives, they’ll be met by a small counter protest, CBS Boston reports. The group of counter-protesters began in the morning on the steps of the State House and moved onto Boston Common. There are about 100 counter protesters.
Counter-protesters and opposing activists shouted at one another. Police stepped in between the groups to keep the peace.
When the counter-protesters moved to Boston Common, police officers on bicycles formed a perimeter around them to prevent any potential clashes.It was not clear what group the counter-protesters are supporting.
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“The voters are coming,” shooting survivor says
12:30 p.m.: Cameron Kasky, a student at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School who survived last month’s massacre, spoke at Saturday’s rally. Kasky said that politicians need to “represent the people or get out.”
“Shooting after shooting, the American people now see one thing they all have in common: the weapons. Politicians, either represent the people or get out. The people demand a law banning the sale of assault weapons. The people demand that we prohibit the sale of high-capacity magazines. The people demand universal background checks. Stand for us or beware, the voters are coming,” Kasky said.
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Houston mayor: Adults have a responsibility to protect children
12:27 p.m.: The mayor of Houston, Texas, told thousands of demonstrators at a “March for Our Lives” rally that adults have a responsibility to protect all children. Mayor Sylvester Turner spoke at the Tranquility Park event Saturday morning.
“We have a responsibility for those of us as adults, we have a responsibility to stand up and protect our children,” said Turner.
Turner also chanted with the crowd “Now is the time” to “do the right thing.”
Demonstrators walk through downtown Houston during a March for Our Lives protest for gun legislation and school safety Saturday, March 24, 2018.
David J. Phillip / AP
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Student protester asks: “Are we next?”
12:19 p.m.: CBS News correspondent Adriana Diaz reports that students from across the country traveled to Washington for Sunday’s march. Diaz spoke two sisters who traveled to the event from New Jersey.
“We decided to come because we’re just sick and tired of waking up everyday scared to go to school. Students should definitely not have to feel that way and have that thought in the back of their head. We’re just sick of all these shootings happening and thinking, like, ‘are we next?'” one student told Diaz.
Crowds of people hold signs on Pennsylvania Avenue at the “March for Our Lives” rally in support of gun control, Saturday, March 24, 2018, in Washington.
Alex Brandon / AP
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D.C. restaurants offer free food to protesters
Several restaurants in Washington, D.C., are providing free food to protesters participating in the rallies Saturday. CBS affiliate WUSA9 reports the movement — titled “Food for Our Lives” — features local businesses offering free and discounted meals throughout the day.
“We proudly stand with the students who have come to make their voices heard against gun violence,” the organizers wrote on their website.
With a valid ID, students under 18 can eat for free at The Pig, The Bird and Think Food Lab.
Students can also get half-priced meals at Beefsteak, Shake Shack, Sugar Shack Donuts, Sweetgreen, Cava, Rasa, Taco Bamba, Protein Bar, Matchbox and Buredo.
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Students chant “enough is enough”
11:20 a.m. ET: Students chanted “enough is enough” and held up signs with slogans like “our ballots will stop bullets” at a rally in Parkland, Florida, where 17 people were killed in a school shooting last month.
More than 20,000 people filled the park near Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School for the March for Our Lives rally Saturday morning. Others from the area traveled to Washington, D.C., where the main March for Our Lives event is being held.
New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft let over 100 people, including families of victims of the Parkland shooting, use the team’s charter plane for the trip. Team spokesman Stacey James says astronaut Mark Kelly reached out to Kraft for the favor. “It’s a hard thing to say no to, especially involving these victims,” James said.
Participants gather during the March For Our Lives event Saturday, March 24, 2018, in Parkland, Fla.
Joe Skipper / AP
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20,000 expected at Florida anti-gun protest
11:00 a.m. ET: More than 20,000 people are expected at the March for Our Lives rally nearest the Florida school where last month’s deadly shooting occurred. Police presence was heavy early Saturday at a park near Marjory Stoneman Douglas High as organizers set up and demonstrators streamed in.
Eighteen-year-old Sabrine Brismeur and 17-year-old Eden Kinlock came from schools 20 miles away to pass out water. Kinlock said that may seem “like a small thing but it helps in the bigger picture.”
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White House releases statement on march
10:30 a.m. ET: “We applaud the many courageous young Americans exercising their First Amendment rights today,” White House Deputy Press Secretary Lindsay Walters says in a statement.
“Keeping our children safe is a top priority of the President’s, which is why he urged Congress to pass the Fix NICS and STOP School Violence Acts, and signed them into law,” the statement says. “Additionally, on Friday, the Department of Justice issued the rule to ban bump stocks following through on the President’s commitment to ban devices that turn legal weapons into illegal machine guns.”
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Rally outside U.S. Embassy in London
9:30 a.m. ET: Dozens of protesters are rallying outside the U.S. Embassy in London in solidarity with the “March for Our Lives” protest against gun violence. Students, families with children and other protesters raised placards reading “Protect kids not guns,” ”Never again,” and “Enough is enough” Saturday outside the new embassy building in south London.
Amnesty International U.K.’s director Kate Allen referred to the 1996 school killings at Dunblane Primary School in Scotland, in which 16 students and a teacher were killed.
“After our own school shooting at Dunblane, new gun ownership laws were introduced in Britain and that’s exactly what’s needed in the United States, where gun deaths are a national tragedy,” she said.
