Moving Images From March For Our Lives in Washington

Text by Josh Raab | Photographs by Gabriella Demczuk for TIME

March 24, 2018 6:06 PM EDT

Hundreds of thousands of people arrived in Washington D.C. on March 24 to attend the March For Our Lives rally. The rally was organized by the kids of the #NeverAgain movement, who survived the Feb. 14 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., which left 17 people dead.The National Park Service, who approved the permit for the march, estimated 500,000 people would be in attendance.

More than 845 sibling rallies were simultaneously taking place around the world, according to the March For Our Lives site. Hundreds of protests across the country in addition to events from from Paris to Sao Paulo. Counter protests in support of gun rights took place in a number of cities includingGreenville, S.C., Salt Lake City, and Helena, Mont.

Savannah Desrosiers, 7, with her mother Berlyne Forrest from Parkland, Fla. Ms. Forrest's son was in the freshman building during the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. His geography teacher was shot to death.

Gabriella Demczuk for TIME

Photographer Gabriella Demczuk, who has been covering the aftermath of the Parkland shooting and the students of the #NeverAgain movement since the day after the shooting, was impressed by how unified the crowd seemed to be. The Washington, D.C.-based photographer who has covered rallies and marches in the city noted, “There’s a sense of hope and urgency that I have not felt in DC in a long time.”