A spirited throng of students and adults packed Boston Common on Saturday for a "March for Our Lives" rally for changes to the nation's gun laws.
Organizers said the crowd numbered 100,000 and Boston police said it was a large and peaceful crowd with no arrests or citations.
An array of speakers addressed the Boston Common crowd, including sisters Leonor and Beca Munoz. Leonor is a senior at Majory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida and witnessed the Feb. 14 shooting, and Beca is a student at Northeastern University.
"I will always remember every single detail. My trauma is not going away," Leonor said.
The sisters spoke about gun violence and led the crowd in a chant of, "Not one more."
"We shouldn't have to fight for our lives, but we will and we are. And we will continue fighting until we're all safe," the sisters said in unison. "Never again."
They also tailored their message to Boston, citing the gun violence in Roxbury.
This was a protest with a purpose, sparked by the survivors of the Majory Stoneman Douglas High School massacre that left 17 students and faculty members dead on Feb. 14 in Parkland, Florida.
Boston's "March for Our Lives" rally began in the city's Roxbury neighborhood at Madison High School, where protesters gathered to listen to speakers before they walked down Columbus Avenue just before 11 a.m. for Boston Common. The larger rally on Boston Common started at 2 p.m.
Two 16-year-old students traveled to Boston from Vermont to join the demonstration and spoke along the march route on Columbus Ave.
"We came out here today because the gun laws need to be changed because a school shooting can happen to any school like it did in Florida, and we really care about students' lives," said one of the teenagers.
Laura-Luiza Cabral Gouvea, a 15-year-old student and local "March for Our Lives" organizer, told NBC10 Boston that she understands the concerns of those defending the Second Amendment, but that she was focused on public safety.
"It's not [about] eradicating the Second Amendment, it's making sure that the rights we were given to life and liberty are just seen before the right to guns," she said on Saturday before the march.
In addition to students at the rally, physicians from Brigham and Women's were in attendance to raise awareness about gun violence as a public health crisis, and Boston Cardinal Sean O'Malley held a mass for peace at St. Anthony Shrine on Arch Street, which was followed by a march to the rally on Boston Common.
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Saturday's rally is not the first demonstration by local students in the wake of the Parkland shooting. Hundreds of students gathered off of the Common and then marched to the Massachusetts Statehouse earlier this month to participate in a nationwide walkout.
