'March For Our Lives' Saint Louis Planned For Saturday, March 24

ST. LOUIS, MO — Hundreds of thousands of student activists and their supporters are expected to march in Washington this weekend to call for gun reform. The "March for Our Lives," organized by survivors of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in Parkland, Florida, comes at the crest of a wave of student activism around the issue of gun violence.

Students at hundreds of schools across the country walked out of class earlier this month to demand stricter gun laws and safer schools, including at least a dozen schools in the St. Louis area. At Clayton High School, more than 300 students accepted lunch detention to participate in a protest, giving speeches against Missouri's lax gun laws, which they say make it easier to buy a gun in the state than get a driver's license.

More than 700 sister marches are planned for anyone who can't make it to the nation's capital. In St. Louis, marchers will meet at Union Station at 10 a.m. Saturday, March 24, and proceed to the Gateway Arch along Market Street. Participants can RSVP here.

State representative Bruce Franks Jr. will be a keynote speaker. Before being elected to the state house, Franks was best known for his activism in the Black Lives Matter movement, and for his rap music. Franks is well-acquainted with gun violence — his older brother was killed in 1991 when a neighbor grabbed him and used him as a human shield in a shootout with a drug dealer. Franks was 6 years old. His brother was 9.

Other speakers will be announced soon, according to the march organizers. The event will also include a voter-registration push ahead of the midterm elections in November.

March organizers say they expect at least 5,000 people on Saturday and that more than 11,000 have said they are interested in attending. Parking may be an issue on Saturday, as it was for the Women's March in January, but free parking is available on at several nearby MetroLink Stations, including: Shrewsbury-Landsdowne I-44, Sunnen, Emerson Park, Washington Park, Fairview Heights, Swansea, Belleville, College and Shiloh-Scott. From there, attendees can take the Metro to Union Station, where the march will begin.

Ride-sharing company Lyft has also pledged $1.5 million in free rides to marches in cities across the country, including St. Louis. To claim a free ride, marchers must RSVP here. Ride codes will be distributed Friday, March 23 to those that have RSVP'd. Ride codes may also be available at www.lyft.com/MFOL Saturday morning on a first-come, first-served basis, depending on how many people have RSVP'd.

National march organizers are encouraging participants to use the #MarchForOurLives hashtag on social media and to tag @March4OurLives, @Everytown, @MomsDemand and @ GiffordsCourage so that they can find and amplify local voices and photos.

March organizers are asking for donations through GoFundMe for help providing port-a-potties, tables, audio-visual equipment, water and signs. Any funding in excess of their expenses, they say, will go back to the St. Louis community to fight gun violence in local schools and on local streets.

Photo: Students at Clayton High School in Clayton, Missouri, left class on the one-month anniversary of the Stoneman Douglas school shooting in Parkland, Florida, to call for gun reform and safer schools. (J. Ryne Danielson/Patch)