SAINT PAUL, MN — On a cold but sunny March day in Saint Paul, thousand of students from schools across the Twin Cities metro — both public and private — marched more than 20 city blocks from Central High School to the steps of the Minnesota State Capitol.

The demonstrators came from various backgrounds but shared one common message: "Enough." It's time the nation's adults, especially its lawmakers, work to put an end to the gun violence disrupting their lives. Students lined up at Central decked out in their school colors. When the march began, they chanted and cheered as they walked down Lexington Avenue. In that way, it sounded like a high school pep rally save for the sober rhetoric.

"This is what democracy looks like," they shouted, followed by "no more silence, end gun violence" and "no justice, no peace, stop executing our teens." Sarah Munson, one of the organizers of the march and a student at Cretin-Derham Hall, told Patch she believes at least 15 different schools were represented at the demonstration Wednesday.

Munson said students are protesting because they no longer feel safe at school — a sentiment conveyed in the dozens of homemade signs scattered throughout the crowd. The signs read messages like "Protect Children, Not Guns," and "Am I Next?" Photo: William Bornhoft/Patch.com "A few days after Parkland there was a gun threat at our school," recounted one student marcher. "I know a lot of parents that said if you don't feel safe you don't have to go [to school]," adding that most parents he knew of supported Wednesday's march.



The demonstration swelled in size as groups of students who had been waiting along the route joined in. Neighbors waved and drivers honked in support. One of the officers assisting with the police escort cheered them on.

A brisk wind whipped up the cardboard signs as students walked onto the John Ireland Boulevard Bridge over Interstate 94. More cheers erupted when they reached the grounds of the state capitol building, where a steady walk turned into an all-out sprint.

One student struggled to keep up while walking in a cast covering his broken foot. Despite the injury, he said he decided to march Wednesday in honor of the Parkland victims who couldn't. Students ended the march with a rally at Leif Erickson Park outside the capitol. They heard from lawmakers supporting gun control legislation in the Minnesota House and Senate. Teens also spoke, discussing school gun violence in a tone that made them sound much older.