Marches Held Across The U.S. And On Six Of The Planet's Seven Continents
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MIAMI (CBSMiami/CNN) – A movement that began in South Florida has spread across the globe.
Survivors of the deadly shooting rampage at a Parkland, Florida, high school led thousands Saturday in a March for Our Lives on Washington, delivering their impassioned pleas for stricter gun control law to the nation.
Those student survivors have rallied not only Americans but people around the world to their cause while honoring the 17 students and faculty members killed on February 14 at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.
In addition to the main march in Washington, D.C., hundreds of sister marches were held across the country and around the world as students, teachers, parents, survivors of school shootings and celebrities took their defiant message against gun violence and the gun lobby to the seats of power.
In New York, former Beatle Paul McCartney told CNN he marched because John Lennon was lost to gun violence in 1980.
"This is what we can do," he said, "so I'm here to do it."
Earlier, a normally bustling swath of Manhattan went quiet during a moment of silence as the names of the Parkland victims were read.
In Washington, a teenager drew parallels with the civil rights marches of the past, relishing that he was literally following in the footsteps of icons such as King.
PIX: March For Our Lives Rally in Parkland
PIX: March For Our Lives Rally in Washington, D.C.
In Boston, Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School graduate Leslie Chiu said the march is about all gun violence, not just school shootings.
Alao, march organizers asked participants over age 21 to take their places behind students spearheading the struggle.
Even as far away as Spain, young people such as Lucia Smith, 6, received an early introduction to political activism. She marched with her mother, Aiko Smith, near the US Embassy in Madrid. The girl carried a sign saying: "Your right to rifles. My right to life. Choose."
From Munich to London to under the shadow of the Eifel Tower in Paris, the world stood with the Stoneman Douglas students on Saturday.
Many people shared their own stores of gun violence, from Rome to Belfast to New Zealand and as far east as Tokyo.
If history is any gauge, it's important to note that when the Declaration of Independence was signed back in 1776, Alexander Hamilton was only 21 years old, Aaron Burr was 20 and James Monroe was only 18.
So when it comes to the Parkland kids, history may be on their side.
(© Copyright 2018 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Cable News Network, Inc., a Time Warner Company, contributed to this report)