Hundreds of students walked out of their classrooms, rallied at the White House and marched to Capitol Hill on Thursday to demonstrate against gun violence in schools.
One year after hundreds of students in the D.C. area walked out of classrooms protesting gun violence in the wake of the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, a group of Montgomery County students left their classrooms to rally at the White House then march to Capitol Hill.
A sea of students from Montgomery Blair High School and others converged on the White House and held a moment of silence for those killed by gun violence.
Earlier, the students boarded buses and Metro trains, signs in hand, for the downtown D.C. demonstration.
A group of students from Montgomery County, MoCo Students For Change, organized much of the event on social media. More than 240 people in a Facebook event said they would attend the demonstration.
The students are calling for tougher gun control legislation, including universal background checks.
Speakers scheduled to address the crowd include Rep. Ted Deutch, who represents an area of Florida including Parkland, Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., and Rep. Jaime Raskin, D-Md, according to a schedule released by MoCo Students for Change.
Montgomery County Schools says they support student activism but discouraged students from leaving campus.
"While we support student advocacy and are proud of students when they speak out for what they believe in, we want students who wish to engage in the civic process during school hours to do so while at school, in a supportive and safe learning environment.".
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Any absences will not be excused, school officials say.
Student groups around the country started organizing and calling for gun control after the shooting on Feb. 14, 2018, in which 17 students and staff were killed.
On the anniversary of the shooting last month, MoCo Students for Change displayed more than 700 T-shirts to honor youth victims of gun violence.
