Tens of thousands of students and teachers across the United States will walk out of schools Wednesday in a politically charged tribute to the victims of a high school shooting in Florida exactly one month ago.
The walkout will take place at 10 a.m. local time at each site and will last for 17 minutes — one for each person killed when a gunman opened fire at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, on Valentine's Day. Nearly 3,000 walkouts are set to be held across the country and around the world, organizers said.
Women's March Youth Empower, the youth branch of Women's March, planned the walkout "to protest Congress' inaction to do more than tweet thoughts and prayers in response to the gun violence plaguing our schools and neighborhoods," according to a statement.
"Students and staff have the right to teach and learn in an environment free from the worry of being gunned down in their classrooms or on their way home from school," the statement said. "Parents have the right to send their kids to school in the mornings and see them home alive at the end of the day."
Students at any given site could face disciplinary action if their walkout is not sanctioned by their school's administration. But many educational institutions have signaled they will allow the 17-minute memorial to proceed as planned.
It's one of several protests planned for the coming weeks.
Topic: Students Across US Planned to Protest Gun Violence (Read 991 times)
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