At schools across the country today, students are getting up from their desks and walking out when the clock strikes 10 a.m. They're participating in the National School Walkout, part of the movement that has taken hold among students to call for action to end gun violence.
Today marks 19 years since the shooting at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colo., in which two high school students shot and killed thirteen people.
It's also been a little more than two months since the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla.
The walkout begins at 10 a.m. in each time zone, and organizers said that over 2,600 walkouts were planned – at least one in each state. In some places, students faced potential disciplinary action for participating.
In Washington, D.C. students gathered in front of the White House with signs. And at 10 a.m., they began the walkout with 19 minutes of silence, in remembrance of the Columbine massacre.
19 Minutes of Silence. #ColumbineHighSchool #NationalSchoolWalkout pic.twitter.com/sO3uEj7PW7
— Esther Ciammachilli🎙📻 (@EstherCinDC) April 20, 2018
Then, with chants against the National Rifle Association, students began marching to the U.S. Capitol.
The March to the Capitol has begun. #NationalSchoolWalkout pic.twitter.com/u7t0ISAZnS
— Esther Ciammachilli🎙📻 (@EstherCinDC) April 20, 2018
Student protestors chant “Not one more” and “End gun violence” as they make their way down 15th St. toward the Capitol. #NationalSchoolWalkout pic.twitter.com/JIL2K13mhz
— Esther Ciammachilli🎙📻 (@EstherCinDC) April 20, 2018
Student Noor Mobarek created a “non-comprehensive” list of 197 names of all the people killed by guns in schools since Columbine. #NationalSchoolWalkout pic.twitter.com/Xftw3FUs2C
— Esther Ciammachilli🎙📻 (@EstherCinDC) April 20, 2018
Students in New York City held a "die-in" in Washington Square Park, their bodies outlined in chalk.
The Day of Action marking the 19th anniversary of the Columbine School shooting began w a “die-in.” Students as young as 11 are flooding into Washington Square Park chanting, “Hey, hey, ho, ho, the NRA has got to go.” The organizers are a group of about 40 high schoolers. @wnyc pic.twitter.com/ZaAXdrsK2Z
— Beenish Ahmed (@beenishfahmed) April 20, 2018
Students from across NYC are walking out if school to join in a demonstration at Washington Square Park that’s entirely student organized. pic.twitter.com/QZvFi2Yqro
— Beenish Ahmed (@beenishfahmed) April 20, 2018
In Nashville, Tenn., students carried signs and marched to the city's Public Square, near that state's capitol.
Chants and songs, en route to a rally at Public Square. pic.twitter.com/LqJOoVlhNF
— Tony Gonzalez (@TGonzalez) April 20, 2018
Chants are anti-NRA, pro gun control, and peppered with “student power.” pic.twitter.com/696Pg2Rgc4
— Tony Gonzalez (@TGonzalez) April 20, 2018
“We’re here today because we were scared – but we’ve decided that is over.” pic.twitter.com/9YTo8jcFUF
— Tony Gonzalez (@TGonzalez) April 20, 2018
At Butler High School in Matthews, N.C., a suburb of Charlotte, students gathered in the bleachers.
Here’s the crowd at Butler High. Student walked out of first period at 10 a.m., read the names of the Columbine victims, and held a moment of silence pic.twitter.com/TuKtZpKmPh
— Nick de la Canal (@nickdelacanal) April 20, 2018
In Pittsburgh, students stood in silence in the city's Market Square.
Pittsburgh CAPA students standing in silence in Market Square on #NationalWalkoutDay. They stood for 13 minutes on the 19th anniversary of the Columbine shootings in memory of the 13 people who died there. pic.twitter.com/64L2szMTie
— Sarah Schneider (@sarahschni) April 20, 2018
On Friday morning, Forest High School in Ocala, Fla., was placed on lockdown after a student there was shot in the ankle. Students there had been expected to take part in the walkout, but a school board member told CNN that the walkouts had been canceled district-wide after the incident.
At Alpine High School in West Texas, a small group of students took part in the walkout. The school was the site of a shooting in 2016, in which a freshman girl shot another student before turning the gun on herself.
Alpine students who participated in the walkout without being signed out by a parents "are facing 3 days of DAEP - a form of suspension - as well as losing National Honor Society status," reports Marfa Public Radio's Sally Beauvais.
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At Alpine High - a school with a population of almost 300 - a handful of students have joined the #NationalSchoolWalkout pic.twitter.com/YoDV2Qc7mm
— Carlos E. Morales (@celizario) April 20, 2018
One Alpine High student protesting today is dressed as Wonder Woman. Her sign: “If the adults won’t save us, we’ll be our own heroes” pic.twitter.com/4tzVvlzs06
— Carlos E. Morales (@celizario) April 20, 2018
