Thousands of students across Queens left their classroom seats and headed for the street on Wednesday morning as part of the “National School Walkout” on the one-month anniversary of the Parkland, Florida, school shooting.
In Bayside, students at Benjamin Cardozo High School and Bayside High School held signs and spoke out in anger over the Feb. 14 mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, which claimed the lives of 17 teenagers and faculty members.
Students also marched with Councilman Jimmy Van Bramer at Newcomers High School in Long Island City, while at Archbishop Molloy High School in Briarwood, the school community gathered on the athletic field for prayers to honor the memories of the shooting victims.
The protests took place roughly between 10 and 10:17 a.m., one minute in observance of each of the Parkland victims. The massacre galvanized a nationwide movement at schools across the country, with students and faculty members demanding that Congress and the president take steps to stop mass shootings and increase school safety.
Check back with QNS later for more details about this developing story.
Photos by Suzanne Monteverdi, Ryan Kelley and Dean Moses
