Demonstrators Demonstrators walk through on the West Randolph street during a "March for Our Lives" rally in support of gun control, Saturday, March 24, 2018, in Chicago. Students and activists across the country planned events Saturday in conjunction with a Washington march spearheaded by teens from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., where over a dozen people were killed in February. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)
The Associated Press
CHICAGO (AP) - Thousands of students and activists protested across Illinois to press for gun control in the wake of a shooting that left 17 dead at a Florida high school last month.
Chicago's March for Our Lives rally saw protesters fill Union Park west of downtown, holding signs that said "Never again" and "I stand with the students." Jones College Prep student Eduardo Medel said Saturday's event wasn't "just a march, this is a movement." Similar protests were planned across the Chicago suburbs.
In Bloomington, hundreds gathered outside the McLean County Museum of History. There also were hundreds of marchers in O'Fallon in southern Illinois.
The Illinois protesters are among hundreds of thousands who rallied in the nation's capital and cities across America on Saturday in one of the biggest youth protests since the Vietnam era.
Demonstrators hold signs during a "March for Our Lives" rally in support of gun control, Saturday, March 24, 2018, in Chicago. Students and activists across the country planned events Saturday in conjunction with a Washington march spearheaded by teens from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)
The Associated Press
Demonstrators Demonstrators walk through on the West Randolph street during a "March for Our Lives" rally in support of gun control, Saturday, March 24, 2018, in Chicago. Students and activists across the country planned events Saturday in conjunction with a Washington march spearheaded by teens from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., where over a dozen people were killed in February. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)
The Associated Press
Demonstrators walk through on the West Washington Blvd during a "March for Our Lives" rally in support of gun control, Saturday, March 24, 2018, in Chicago. Students and activists across the country planned events Saturday in conjunction with a Washington march spearheaded by teens from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., where over a dozen people were killed in February. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)
The Associated Press
A demonstrator holds signs during a "March for Our Lives" rally in support of gun control, Saturday, March 24, 2018, in Chicago. Students and activists across the country planned events Saturday in conjunction with a Washington march spearheaded by teens from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., where over a dozen people were killed in February. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)
The Associated Press
Demonstrators attend a "March for Our Lives" rally in support of gun control, Saturday, March 24, 2018, in Chicago. Students and activists across the country planned events Saturday in conjunction with a Washington march spearheaded by teens from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., where over a dozen people were killed in February. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)
The Associated Press
Demonstrators hold signs during a "March for Our Lives" rally in support of gun control, Saturday, March 24, 2018, in Chicago. Students and activists across the country planned events Saturday in conjunction with a Washington march spearheaded by teens from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., where over a dozen people were killed in February. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)
The Associated Press