George Clooney gives US$500k to fund nationwide gun protests as shooting survivors prepare to march on Florida politicians

A group of students who survived the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School last week planned to travel 400 miles to Florida’s capital Tuesday to urge lawmakers to act to prevent a repeat of the massacre that killed 17 students and faculty last week.

The pupils plan to hold a rally Wednesday in hopes that it will put pressure on the state’s Republican-controlled legislature to consider a sweeping package of gun-control laws, something some of the lawmakers said Monday they would consider.

That move came as film star George Clooney and his lawyer wife Amal offered to pay US$500,000 to help back nationwide marches expected to take place next month, including one to Washington on March 24.

School pupils across the country have vowed to exert pressure on Congress as the aftermath of the rampage resonates beyond Florida, with hundreds of protesters converging on Monday on a downtown Los Angeles park to demand tougher gun-safety measures.

Other pupils in a Boca Raton, Florida, school engaged in a mass walkout on Tuesday and began to make their way to Marjory Stoneman High School.

Further protests are planned for next month, and now have considerable financial backing in the form of the Clooneys, who announced on Tuesday that they would help fund the movement.