March for Our Lives speakers pledge a new era in politics: 'Fight for your lives before it's someone else's job'

Teenage speakers at the primary March for Our Lives in Washington Saturday pledged to create a new era in American politics, urging their audience to political activism.

"We're going to make sure the best people get in our elections to run not as politicians, but as Americans," said David Hogg, a survivor of the mass school shooting in Parkland, Florida. "Because this is not cutting it," he added, pointing to the Capitol building.

Fellow Parkland student Emma Gonzalez, who has emerged as a leading voice for new gun control laws, charged the crowd to fight for their "lives before it's someone else's job."

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Organizers put the crowd in Washington at about 800,000, though other estimates have compared it to the 2018 Women's March, which drew more than 300,000. About 700 sister marches were organized nationwide and internationally. Some of the demonstrations drew smaller counter-protests advocating the defense of Second Amendment rights.

Watch Gonzalez's speech below, and see some of the most memorable protest signs from the rally here. Bonnie Kristian