A Minute-by-Minute look at Atlanta's 'March for Our Lives' against gun violence

ATLANTA — Atlanta police estimated the crowd at near 30,000 for today’s "March for Our Lives." People of all ages were drawn to the Atlanta event, one of the nationwide demonstrations in a movement begun by student survivors of last month’s mass killing in a Parkland, Fla., school. One of those Florida students spoke in Atlanta, as did civil rights veteran Rep. John Lewis and Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms.

Rep. John Lewis, one of the speakers at the student inspired march against gun violence, gave an emotional call to end gun violence, Just before the actual march started. He referred to friends he’d lost to bullets, including national leaders such as John F. Kennedy.

[PHOTOS: 'March for Our Lives' in downtown Atlanta]

“We are never too young, we are never too old to march; to speak out and find a way to do something about gun violence,” Lewis said around noon.

Lewis had been introduced as both the youngest speaker at a civil rights march more than half a century ago and the oldest to speak at the National Center for Civil and Human Rights today.

"You're young," the Atlanta Congressman said. "And some of you are old like me."That line aroused the woman with short, white hair at the back of the crowd. "Alright!" she shouted.

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"Yeah," added the grandmother next to her, a woman in a red track suit holding a small sign made out of yellow construction paper. "PEOPLE OVER PARTY," said the handwritten note in green crayon.The woman with that sign is Lindy Rogers. She is 74 and lives in Sandy Springs and this has turning into a bit of an activist since she attended her first march last year, the women's one, in Washington, where, she noted proudly, she saw lots of men, too.

The retired DeKalb County high school teacher was too busy studying for college during the Vietnam War, but she has three grandchildren in elementary school now and these school shootings worry her."The most trouble I ever had was a smoke bomb," she said. "This is just horrible."Her action against gun violence started less than two weeks ago at a rally outside the Gold Dome, at Liberty Plaza, also today's destination.."I'm just energized," she said. "I'm into it."

She came with her friend, Jean Zweifel, 73, a retired university librarian from Smyrna. Unlike Rogers, Zweifel is an old hand at marches, having attended them in college in Wisconsin during Vietnam and also during one of the two Iraq invasions (she couldn't recall which).

Zweifel remembers attending a gun-control meeting at a congressman's house in 1971. Yes, it was an issue back then, too, she said. "People said at the meeting said, 'I was threatened at my job for speaking out for gun control.' " Her generation didn't seem to have made much headway on the issue, she said. But it's different with the kids of today."It's this age group that's going to make the difference," she said.And at that Rogers smiled. "It's like the '60s all over again," she said.

Carly Novell, a senior who survived last month’s shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida, was one of those “kids” Zweifel reffered to. Novel, a speaker at the march, said that before the shooting she was worried about a test in math, her crush and prom dresses. Now she worries if her friends are mentally stable enough and about the future of our country.

Novell remembered her friend Carmen Schentrup, who she met her freshman year at Stoneman Douglas. "Carmen isn't just a picture with name on a TV screen. She was a person. she was my friend."

Novell said she is done living in fear and instead looks toward change.

"I hid in a closet Feb. 14. and I'm not hiding anymore. I'm not hiding from my government, not hiding from the NRA, not hiding from guns. And most of all I am not hiding from change."

A Minute-by-Minute look at Saturday's march in Atlanta:

2:51 p.m.: As the rally at the Capitol ended, Megan May and her sister Moriah were doing something that could make a difference: registering to vote. Several groups had seized the moment, dispersing volunteers with clipboards through the crowds all morning and afternoon.

Megan May, 28, had allowed her registration to lapse and she had skipped the last presidential election. She was uninspired by the candidates but in retrospect had this assessment of her action: "shameful." It will not happen again, she added.

Her sister, 30, just moved from Tennessee. Though she was registered there, she too sat out the last election and for the same reason. Neither candidate resonated.

Now, she plans to vote not only in the next national election but also in the local and state elections where gun laws are made.

"These kids in Parkland really made me wake up to that," she said.

The man who registered them was Oscar Baza, with the group GALEO. He said he registered a half dozen people. He got a couple "nos" but most everyone else was already registered, he said, adding, "It's your voice. You should be heard."

2:43 p.m.: A crowd gathered around Joseph Guay's exhibition: 14 school desks covered in black chalkboard paint in memory of the Parkland student victims. Messages such as "books not bullets" and "not one more" were scrawled onto the symbolic chairs while the bell at Central Presbyterian Church rang repeatedly.

2:27 p.m.: Jordan Parker, a 17-year-old Southwest DeKalb High School senior, greeted the crowd in front of the Capitol with a cheerful "Hey y'all."

She then gave a speech about how to use your five senses for political activism, a broad message that touched on such topics as manipulative social media algorithms, the danger of mental illness and the power of positive reinforcement.

“Use your eyes as a tool to decipher what is really happening in your communities,” Parker said.

2:25 p.m.: Alec Zaslav, a Marjory Stoneman Douglas survivor,  read the names of the 17 who were killed at that school as chants of "not one more" rang out throughout Liberty Plaza. Zaslav said his generation will "finally put a stop to this madness.

"While we may just be kids, we are citizens of this country. Very soon we will all be voting and we will be voting for those who believe that our lives are more important than AR15s."

He spoke of feeling helpless and scared while barricaded in a classroom. "I will never be the same again," he said. "The victims will never be the same again. No one in Parkland will ever be the same again."

He told the crowd to take this emotion and turn it into action. And to the leaders who responded to the mass slaughter with their thoughts and prayers, he had this message: "Your time is running out."

A Minute-by-Minute look at Saturday's march in Atlanta:

2:11 p.m.: "I'm a freshman at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School," Jake Zaslav, Alec's brother, told the crowd. "I'm not a crisis actor!"

That line drove the crowd wild. "The power belongs to us," he said. But he added a conciliatory note: gun-control activists must have the maturity and the "decency" to listen to people with different views.

"We cannot simply ignore them," he said, "even if they ignore us." He shared a story about speaking at an NRA event where the crowd had been heckling the speakers until it was his turn. It might take children to make people listen, he said. This approach might help to reduce gun violence while also healing what divides the nation, he said.

2:33 p.m.: in Washington: Yolanda Renee King, granddaughter of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and daughter of Martin Luther King Jr III took the stage to deliver a message.

"My grandfather had a dream that his four little children would not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character," she told the crowd. "I have a dream that enough is enough."

She then led in chanting: "Spread the word! Have you heard! All across the nation! We are going to be! A great generation!"

1:55 p.m.: The crowd in Atlanta reached Liberty Plaza near the Capitol to listen to more speakers.

1:30 p.m.: Thank you to all the many folks, from first responders to city workers to volunteers, who are keeping everyone safe during today's "March for Our Lives."

1:15 p.m.: Everyone participating in the "March for Our Lives" rally made their way to Atlanta's Liberty Plaza.

1 p.m.: Huge crowds near CNN right now.

12:45 p.m.: Unclear just how many people are out marching, but it's a lot.

12:40 p.m.: These tents encourage those to vote.

12:32 p.m.: Crowd for march extends as far as the eye can see down Centennial Olympic Park Drive.

12:30 p.m.: Channel 2's Justin Wilfon says to take MARTA. Traffic is really bad downtown.

12:20 p.m.: Rep. John Lewis joins the front of the crowd.

12:05 p.m.: Thousands are taking part in this march in downtown Atlanta.

12 p.m.: Mayor Bottoms says she hears Atlanta.

11:55 a.m.: Large turnout for "March for Our Lives."

11:50 a.m.: Mayor Bottoms is speaking right now at the "March for Our Lives."

11:43 a.m.: Cheers as survivors from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School take the stage.

11:40 a.m.: A couple of the signs at "March for Our Lives."

11:34 a.m.: Channel 2 Action News is streaming the event LIVE on the official WSB-TV Facebook page.

11:20 a.m.: Channel 2 Action News has a photographer waiting at Liberty Plaza where the march will end.

11:10 a.m.: Follow our Facebook/IG story for more sights and sounds as the march kicks off!

11:05 a.m. Gehlbach is talking to people before the march in downtown Atlanta.

10:56 a.m.: This is what it currently looks like at the Center for Civil and Human Rights in downtown Atlanta.

10:51 a.m.: Crowds are getting larger in downtown Atlanta.

10:34 a.m.: 30 minutes until official start time in Atlanta.

10:31 a.m.: Channel 2's Steve Gehlbach is at the Center for Human and Civil Rights plaza in downtown Atlanta.

10:15 a.m.: A large crowd is already gathering  in front of the Center for Human and Civil Rights plaza.

10 a.m.: Here is the route for Atlanta's rally.

9:30 a.m.: Police just starting to shut down Ivan Allen in front of Center for Human and Civil Rights plaza for "March for Our Lives."

Cox Media Group