Students at Oakland Technical High School look at a billboard with photos of the 17 victims of the Parkland, Florida, mass shooting during a walkout to protest gun violence on March 14, 2018. (Samantha Shanahan/KQED)
Thousands of students across the Bay Area joined a nationwide school walkout Wednesday to protest gun violence and to press for stricter gun laws, one month after a mass shooting at a Parkland, Florida, high school left 17 dead.
Organizers estimate nearly 3,000 walkouts, sit-ins, marches and other forms of protest were planned across the U.S. following the Feb. 14 killing of 17 students and staff at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.
The coordinated walkout was organized by Empower, the youth wing of the Women’s March, which brought thousands of people to Washington, D.C., last year. The group urged students to leave class at 10 a.m. local time for 17 minutes — one minute for each victim in the Florida shooting.
“Youth happen at the forefront of almost every social movement in American history, and real change starts with young people. Gun violence is a youth issue, a youth injustice, and it is a human rights issue,” said 14-year-old Oakland Tech freshman and walkout organizer Maxwell Stern.
Here are photos of the school walkout in the Bay Area.
Hundreds of Oakland Technical High School students hold a walkout on March 14, 2018, to protest gun violence one month after the Parkland, Florida, shooting left 17 people dead. (Samantha Shanahan/KQED)Names and obituaries of the victims of the Parkland, Florida, shooting are displayed on a table at Oakland Technical High School on March 14, 2018. (Samantha Shanahan/KQED)Oakland Technical High School students begin a walkout at 10 a.m. on March 14, 2018, to protest gun violence one month after 17 people were killed in a high school shooting in Parkland, Florida. (Samantha Shanahan/KQED)Hundreds of Oakland Technical High School students hold a walkout on March 14, 2018, to protest gun violence one month after the Parkland, Florida, mass shooting left 17 people dead. (Samantha Shanahan/KQED)Students from Oakland Technical High School stand up against gun violence on March 14, 2018, one month after the school shooting in Parkland, Florida, killed 17 people. (Samantha Shanahan/KQED)James Logan High School students cheer during a walkout demonstration on March 14, 2018, in Union City. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)A James Logan High School student holds a sign during a walkout demonstration on March 14, 2018, in Union City. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)James Logan High School students stage a die-in during a walkout demonstration on March 14, 2018, in Union City. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)Students from various schools across San Francisco walked out of their schools on March 14, 2018, and marched to Civic Center. (Erika Aguilar/KQED)Students from Encinal High School in Alameda hold up signs and chant on March 14, 2018, during a walkout to protest gun violence. (Sheraz Sadiq/KQED)Students from Encinal High School in Alameda hold up signs and chant on March 14, 2018, during a walkout to protest gun violence. (Sheraz Sadiq/KQED)Students at Encinal High School in Alameda lock arms during a school walkout to protest gun violence on March 14, 2018. (Sheraz Sadiq/KQED)Encinal High School senior Gabby Gustafsson, 18, in Alameda during a walkout to protest gun violence, one month after a shooting at a Parkland, Florida, left 17 people dead. “I’m participating because how many students have to die before the NRA and Congress realize that nobody should be able to buy military-style assault rifles. We can’t wait around anymore on empty promises.” (Sheraz Sadiq/KQED)
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