Arkansas students among those participating in school walkouts on Columbine anniversary

Students hold signs during a protest Friday, April 20, 2018, in front of the Washington County Courthouse in Fayetteville.
Students hold signs during a protest Friday, April 20, 2018, in front of the Washington County Courthouse in Fayetteville.

Students from Florida to Chicago started streaming out of their schools Friday in the latest round of gun-control activism after the February shooting at a high school in Parkland, Fla.

The protests were chosen to line up with the 19th anniversary of the Columbine High School shooting, which left 13 people dead in Littleton, Colo.

In Arkansas, around 30 students gathered in front of the Washington County Courthouse after walking from their classes at Fayetteville High School.

The students held signs and chanted slogans at passing vehicles and received a few supportive honks.

Pamela Smith, a spokeswoman for the Little Rock School District, said that a few schools held a moment of silence, but she was unsure if any students walked out.

Officials at the North Little Rock and Bryant school districts were not aware of any students who participated in a protest. No Conway public school students walked out, a district spokeswoman said.

Many of the students who joined demonstrations across the country Friday turned their attention to upcoming elections as they pressed for tougher gun laws and politicians who will enact them. Scores of rallies turned into voter registration drives. Students took the stage to issue an ultimatum to their lawmakers.

"We want to show that we're not scared. We want to stop mass shootings and we want gun control," said Binayak Pandey, 16, who rallied with dozens of students outside Georgia's Capitol in Atlanta. "The people who can give us that will stay in office, and the people who can't give us that will be out of office."

All told, tens of thousands of students left class Friday for protests that spread from coast to coast. They filed out at 10 a.m. to gather for a moment of silence honoring the victims of gun violence. Some headed to nearby rallies. Others stayed at school to discuss gun control and register their peers to vote.

Organizers said an estimated 150,000 students protested Friday at more than 2,700 walkouts, including at least one in each state, as they sought to sustain a wave of youth activism that drove a larger round of walkouts on March 14. Activists behind that earlier protest estimated it drew nearly 1 million students.

Friday's action was planned by a Connecticut teenager, Lane Murdock, after a gunman stormed Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., on Feb. 14, leaving 17 people dead.

Among those who helped orchestrate the walkout — and the voter registration push — was the progressive group Indivisible, which formed after the 2016 election to oppose President Donald Trump's policies.

In cities across the country, it was common to see crowds of students clad in orange — the color used by hunters to signal "don't shoot" — rallying outside their schools or at public parks.

Several hundred gathered at New York City's Washington Square Park, chanting "The NRA has got to go!" and "Enough is enough." A large group in Washington marched from the White House to the Capitol building to rally for gun control.

Nate Fenerty was among hundreds of students who left class to rally in Richmond, Va. He registered to vote for the first time at tables set up by students at the protest and said he wants Congress to approve mandatory background checks for gun buyers.

"How many more times are we going to stand in memoriam for another school shooting before our policymakers to actually do something?" said Fenerty, who carried a sign saying "Am I Next?"

Shortly before the walkouts, news spread that there had been another shooting at a Florida school. Authorities say one student shot another in the ankle at Forest High School in Ocala early Friday. A suspect was taken into custody. Activists said it underscored the urgency of their work.

Student David Hogg, a Parkland survivor who has emerged as a leading activist, took to social media nearly every day this week urging students to register. On Thursday, he made the motivation clear on Twitter: "The only way to make politicians listen to us is by voting in ones that will," he said.

Hogg was among about 50 students who walked out of Stoneman Douglas on Friday after administrators threatened protesters with unexcused absences.

Craig Smith and Terry McGary, both 17-year-old juniors, said they walked out because they want to show respect for the Columbine victims.

"It was a guilt trip to make us not walk out," McGary said about the threat.

The walkouts drew counter-protesters in some areas, including about 30 at a rally outside New Hampshire's statehouse. In Kansas, about 200 gun-rights supporters held their own demonstration outside the statehouse. Many carried signs and flags, and some brought holstered handguns.

Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, a Republican candidate for governor, addressed the crowd and later criticized the walkout movement.

"Instead of walking out of class, why don't you stay in class and spend that half hour studying the Second Amendment? You might learn something," Kobach said later.

Some students in Colorado participated in the walkouts but not at Columbine, which has closed April 20 ever since the 1999 shooting that left 15 people dead. Some Columbine students attended a vigil with Parkland survivors on Thursday night, but Friday, their school called on them to attend a day of service.

Principal Scott Christy said in a letter to other schools in his district that April "has long been a time to respectfully remember our loss, and also support efforts to make our communities a better place."

Read Saturday's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for full details.

Reporters Stacy Ryburn of the Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette and Polly Irungu of Arkansas Online contributed to this report.

Upcoming Events