UPDATED: March 25, 2018 at 8:52 p.m.

Thirty minutes before the marchers started walking down the street, Erin Donovan watched her six-year-old son chase his father around a cement bench outside the Everson Museum of Art in downtown Syracuse.

As the courtyard outside the museum filled up quickly, her son’s free space to run around started to vanish as chants echoed across the property.

“What does democracy look like?” a young man yelled from a megaphone.

“This is what democracy looks like,” answered hundreds of protesters, many of them holding homemade signs and their children.

Aside from the March for Our Lives protest in Washington, D.C., 846 events advocating for gun control measures took place across the world on Saturday. The rallies came a little more than a month after 17 people were killed in a violent school shooting in Parkland, Florida. More than 1 million marchers were expected to turn out to events on Saturday, in the United States.

Unlike recent protests that have taken place in Syracuse, including the Women’s March in 2017, the March for Our Lives was organized by high school students from neighboring towns. Student organizers had attracted a number of volunteers from central New York to hand out signs for the marchers.

Ninety minutes before the march started, 54-year-old Kristin Barrett-Anderson stood behind a table, handing out poster-board and markers to those who walked by. She said she jumped at the opportunity to volunteer for the student organizers, almost all of whom have not yet graduated high school.

“I’m thankful for the students (but) I’m embarrassed that it has to be them,” said 78-year-old attendee Connie Russell. “I think it’s time we as adults act like we’re more involved.

Molly Gibbs | Asst. Photo Editor

A message of youthful activism was the largest theme of the protest, which was a reason that Alice Woods and Grace Vandermolen — two seniors from Jamesville-Dewitt High School — helped plan the event. Woods said that, just because she doesn’t vote, it doesn’t mean she can’t be an active member in her society. She added that she wrote several emails to Rep. John Katko (R-Camillus) advocating for stricter gun control measures.

Many people crowded around a platform outside the entrance to the federal building in downtown Syracuse as the protest continued Saturday afternoon. Echoes of people yelling “do your job” persisted for several minutes as speakers waited to take a stage near the building.

The speakers consisted almost entirely of high school students, ranging from freshmen to seniors. A few adults who took the stage were teachers.

“The world is not a safe place, and while I don’t accept this, I realize this,” yelled Jessa Davidson, a junior at Christian Brothers Academy. “(But) being a student should not be a risk.”

Minutes later, Saoirse Murphy-Collins — a junior from Nottingham High School — took the stage.

“I’m only 16, I can’t vote and can barely drive,” she said. “But for those of you who can vote, please do.”

Dan Lyon | Staff Photographer

Sydney March, a senior at Syracuse University, attended the march with her sister, Devon, who is a freshman at SU. Both are graduates of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, the scene of the Florida shooting that sparked the nationwide protests.

Local resident Andrew Phillip held a “veterans for gun control” sign, meanwhile, as the crowd funneled out of the courtyard and onto State Street. He said his experiences as a father, a veteran and a doctor all affected his decision to come to the rally.

“I believe strongly that people in this country have the rights to own guns,” he said. “But I don’t think any civilian in the United States of America needs any military-grade weapon. I think it’s important for people like myself who have seen first-hand what weapons of war do to human flesh have a voice in this argument.”

Chants became less unified as marchers filled up multiple blocks of State Street. As the marchers turned onto East Washington Street and passed City Hall, Mayor Ben Walsh stood on the sidewalk and waved to marchers.

“I think growing up where these are some of the normal things that happen, and having to do drills since middle school and elementary school, it’s a very real thing that’s happening in our community,” March said. “It’s hard not to get fed up.”

CORRECTION: In a previous version of this post, Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School was misnamed. The Daily Orange regrets this error.

CORRECTION: In a previous version of this post, the number of people killed in the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School was misstated. Seventeen people were killed. The Daily Orange regrets this error.

Published on March 24, 2018 at 3:46 pm

Contact Gabe: gkstern@syr.edu | @gabestern326