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Photo: Charles Trainor Jr., AP
A Broward County sheriff’s deputy escorts a protestor away from the door of the courtroom where a hearing was held for school shooting suspect Nikolas Cruz, Thursday, Feb. 15, 2018, at Broward County Court in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Cruz is accused of opening fire Wednesday at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., killing more than a dozen people and injuring several.
(Charles Trainor Jr./Miami Herald via AP, Pool)
After a mass shooting left 17 dead at a Florida school, people on social media began calling for a nationwide school walkout.
Circulating the idea with the hashtag #NationalSchoolWalkout, many voiced support for a mass student and faculty protest to decry the country’s gun control policies.
"ENOUGH of living in fear of yet another school shooting," wrote @YvonneP22 on Twitter. "Congress won’t do anything. WE NEED TO TAKE ACTION OURSELVES!"
Similar sentiments were echoed across Twitter, Instagram and Facebook on Friday. With the movement still in its early social media stages, people seemed to disagree on dates and actions. Some parents suggested keeping their children home from school; others called for a mass, though brief, classroom walkout.
By early Friday afternoon, the youth arm of the Women’s March announced plans to sponsor a March 14 walkout to last 17 minutes – one minute for each life lost in the Florida shooting on Thursday.
A Facebook page for the event has since garnered more than 34,000 RSVPs.
The event description says the demonstration, to take place at 10 a.m. in all time zones, will "protest Congress’ inaction to do more than tweet thoughts and prayers in response to the gun violence plaguing our schools and neighborhoods."
The description claims "students and allies" are organizing the walkout "to demand Congress pass legislation to keep us safe from gun violence at our schools, on our streets and in our homes and places of worship."
Survivors of the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., stepped into the national gun debate this week with their outspoken pleas for gun reform. Many said they hoped to speak with President Donald Trump during his Florida visit.
Elsewhere in Florida, about 100 students at South Broward High School walked out of their classrooms to protest gun violence, wielding signs with phrases such as, "Do Something," and "Protect our Kids, Not Your Guns."
"We are angry! We are angry!" the students chanted. "We want safety! We want safety!"
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Michelle Robertson is an SFGATE staff writer. Email her at mrobertson@sfchronicle.com or find her on Twitter at @mrobertsonsf.
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