Thousands of people attended the March for Our Lives events in dozens of Bay Area cities yesterday, calling for an end to gun violence.
Large marches took place in San Francisco, Oakland and San Jose, with smaller marches in other cities including Burlingame, Pacifica, San Mateo, Redwood City, Alameda, Richmond, San Leandro, Napa, Novato, Santa Rosa, Walnut Creek and Sonoma.
"For me personally being able to uplift this finally and really begin to start having this conversation about gun reform is essential, especially in a place like Oakland," said Ivan Garcia, 15, who helped organize the Oakland march where crowds swarmed streets downtown.
People of all ages showed up in downtown San Jose too, but it was young people who led the march, walking through rain and calling for action instead of more thoughts and prayers. They asked for bans on semi-automatic and assault rifles and pushed for better mental healthcare and improved background checks.
Asmara Farah, 13, was among the youngest speakers. She says after many shootings, Parkland was the breaking point.