Thousands of protesters demand action on US gun violence

Thousands of people took to the streets in the United States on Saturday to push for action on the devastating gun violence plaguing the country, where Republican politicians have repeatedly blocked efforts to enact stricter firearms laws. 

Protesters of all ages streamed onto the National Mall in Washington, where activists placed more than 45,000 white vases holding flowers -- one for each person killed by a firearm in the United States in 2020.

"Protect People Not Guns," said one sign held by a protester near the Washington Monument. "Fear Has No Place In Schools," read another.

Two horrific shootings last month -- one at a Texas elementary school that killed 19 children and two teachers, and another at a New York supermarket that left 10 Black people dead -- helped spur the rallies, organised by March For Our Lives.

The student-led organisation, founded by survivors of a shooting at a high school in Parkland, Florida, held a rally that drew hundreds of thousands of people to the nation's capital in March 2018.

Four years later, the demonstration was marked by frustration at the lack of progress. 

"Enough is enough" rang out repeatedly from the podium, with speakers including Parkland survivor X Gonzalez and Martin Luther King Jr's granddaughter Yolanda King.