Boston, Cambridge MA Students Walkout On Columbine Anniversary

BOSTON, MA — Today, on the day that marks the 19th anniversary of the Columbine School shooting, hundreds of students in the Boston area and the state walked out of class in remembrance of that massacre and in an effort to continue a student-led protest of gun violence.

At most schools between 10 a.m. to noon was reserved for the walk out where students spoke about the continued need for more strict gun control.

If this sounds familiar, that's because this was part of a National School Walkout Friday, and included rallies from Harvard Square to private schools in Newton to Waltham to the Back Bay: Nearly 30 student-led groups in the state said they'd be participating along with more than 2,500 others across the country, according to the organizers website.

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The walkout was organized by a handful of high-school students from Connecticut with the goal of keeping the gun control conversation in the public eye. Organizers hope to hold their elected leaders accountable and engage young people in politics, according to the website.

This all comes on the heels of the February shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla that left 17 people dead and sparked a student uprising.

“Together, we will send a message that we won’t tolerate any more inaction on this issue,” the organizers said in a statement on their website. “If cowardly politicians fail to act, young people will show them the consequences of letting so many Americans die by voting them out in November.”

Boston University students:

Meanwhile in Cambridge:

On April 20, 1999 (a date that many of today's protesters were not yet even alive to remember) two young men walked into a school in Colorado and began shooting students and teachers before killing themselves. It rocked the nation, and changed the way communities think about security in school after what was considered an unprecedented event.

Since that shooting, which ended with 15 dead and 25 injured, school shootings and gun violence has continued to shock the country.

On March 14 students marched to the State House and spoke with legislators on the anniversary of the Parkland Florida shooting, and days later thousands of activists shut down Boston streets as they marched 2 miles from a high school in Roxbury to the Boston Common for the city’s March for Our Lives on March 20.

Related stories:

• Waltham Students Rally For Gun Control On Columbine Anniversary
• March For Our Lives Boston: Thousands March To End Gun
• Next Step For March For Our Lives? Town Halls Across MA

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Photo of the March 20 March For Our Lives by Jenna Fisher/Patch