New York governor Andrew Cuomo laid down in the street in downtown Manhattan Wednesday alongside high-school students taking part in the nationwide school-walkout protest for stricter gun-control laws.
Cuomo, a Democrat and staunch gun-control advocate, joined the crowd of students in Zucotti Park— the former home of the Occupy Wall Street protests — as they staged a so-called “die in” following a march through the streets of downtown Manhattan.
New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo joins students protesting for stricter gun laws in New York City as part of #NationalWalkoutDay. https://t.co/JuOWURifIL pic.twitter.com/4pcTTVA1zW
— ABC News (@ABC) March 14, 2018
Cuomo praised the students’ efforts during a press conference that followed the demonstration, and said he intended to order the creation of a website called “New York Students Against Gun Violence” to allow students to continue their advocacy.
“I think this is a very powerful statement,” Cuomo said. “Sometimes I think you have students showing more leadership than the so-called leadership in Washington.”
The Manhattan students represented just a few of the more than 3,000 schools across the country that took part in the demonstration, according to the event organizers, ENOUGH National School Walkout.
The protests, which were originally supposed to last 17 minutes to represent the lives lost in the Valentines Day Parkland shooting, took different forms as crowds in Washington, D.C. loudly chanted and held signs, while protesters in Times Square stood in silence.