Police in Washington DC are stepping up security efforts as tens of thousands of protesters are expected to take part in the March For Our Lives demonstration on Saturday afternoon.
The protest against spiraling gun violence in the United States will begins at midday in front of the Washington Monument. Thousands are also expected to take part in the Capitol Pride Parade starting at 3pm.
The DC Police Department is deploying civil-distrubance units and closing roads around the city, and Mayor Muriel Bowser urged those taking part to be safe.
“We are going to live our lives, and we’re not going to live in fear,” Ms Bowser told a news conference on Friday.
Police Chief Robert Contee said “we are not going to tolerate foolishness” during the busy weekend of events.
The March for our Lives protest is a successor to the 2018 march organised by student protestors after the mass shooting at a high school in Parkland, Florida.
With recent shootings from Uvalde, Texas, to Buffalo, New York, bringing gun control back into the national conversation, organizers of this weekend’s events say the time is right to renew their push for a national overhaul.
The protest comes at a time of renewed political activity on guns and a crucial moment for possible action in Congress.
Survivors of mass shootings and other incidents of gun violence have lobbied legislators and testified on Capitol Hill this week.
Among them was Miah Cerrillo, an 11-year-old girl who survived the shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas. She told lawmakers how she covered herself with a dead classmate’s blood to avoid being shot.
Additional reporting from the Associated Press
