Students rally in Chicago for greater gun control

Survivors of a shooting at a school in Florida led a rally in the city of Chicago aimed at promoting greater gun control and encouraging US citizens to register to vote.

Among those taking part in Friday's demonstration were Emma Gonzalez and Cameron Kasky, two students at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland who became the faces of a youth movement for greater gun control, Efe news reported.

Their advocacy stemmed from a February 14 shooting at Stoneman Douglas in which a 19-year-old assailant killed 14 students and three staff members.

Rappers will.i.am and Chance the Rapper and actress and singer Jennifer Hudson, who gave a rendition of "Amazing Grace" were in attendance at the rally.

Gun-control advocates such Gabrielle Giffords, a former Democratic congresswoman from Arizona who suffered a brain injury in a 2011 assassination attempt, was also present.

During the demonstration, a group of Chicago students read aloud the names of the 147 people under the age of 21 who were the victims of gun violence over the past 12 months in the city.

The rally marked the start of the Parkland students' "March for Our Lives: Road to Change" bus tour, which will visit dozens of US cities this summer in a bid to achieve stricter gun-control laws and promote voter registration.

--IANS

soni/mr