'March For Our Lives': Gun control activists gather around the world in solidarity with Florida high school massacre victims

Martin Coulter25 March 2018

Hundreds of protesters have gathered outside the US embassy in London to demand an end to mass shootings, pledging to "stay angry" until gun laws are reformed.

It comes as tens of thousands are set to march on the White House on Saturday in a rally organised by survivors of the Parkland school shooting in Florida.

Hundreds more gathered outside the US Consulate in Edinburgh in solidarity with the victims.

Student Courtney Chatterton, 21, told the Standard about a false alarm at her university near Chicago, Illinois, on March 14, the day before she flew to visit a friend in the UK.

'March For Our Lives' protests - in pictures

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She said: "We got all these emergency messages saying there was a shooter on campus. It was utterly terrifying, I started shaking immediately.

"People were barricading themselves in classrooms."

'The scariest thing in school should be my grades'
PA Wire/PA Images

The March For Our Lives movement is urging Congress to ban assault-style, high-capacity rifles which have been used with deadly efficiency in recent mass shootings.

They also want "background check loopholes" closed that allow dangerous people to "slip through the cracks and buy guns online or at gun shows".

Protesters chanted "Not one more" and "books not bullets" before they staged a three-minute silent "die-in" in remembrance of shooting victims.

'Anger has a long history of bringing about positive change'
PA Wire/PA Images

Organiser Stephen Paduano urged the crowd to "stay angry" at Congress over its "dereliction of duty".

Crowds and celebrities attend the March for Our Lives Rally on March 24 in Washington
Getty Images North America

Julia Langfitt, from Maryland, who moved to Surrey with her family two years ago,said: "It's time. It's ridiculous how many children are killed every week and still nothing is done about it."

Sir Paul McCartney joins thousands of people, many of them students, march against gun violence in Manhattan during the March for Our Lives rally
Getty Images

Her daughter Kathrine, 16, added: "My childhood friends go to class knowing they could be killed. No-one should ever be that scared at school.

"They had a lockdown the other week - they happen all the time. They're terrified that this is the new normal."

Thousands of protesters line the streets in Washington
Getty Images North America

Around 800 protests are happening worldwide on Saturday, sparked after a former pupil wielding a AR-15 rifle gunned down his ex-classmates at Stoneman Douglas High School.

He massacred 17 students and teachers in the Valentine's Day spree.

The marches follow synchronised national school "walk-outs" across the US earlier this month, when thousands of pupils left class for 17 minutes - one minute for each victim.

Additional reporting by the Press Association

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