WASHINGTON (AP) — The Latest on The Latest on student-led protests against gun violence (all times local):
10:40 a.m.
More than 20,000 people are expected at the "March for Our Lives" rally nearest the Florida school where last month's deadly shooting occurred.
Police presence was heavy early Saturday at a park near Marjory Stoneman Douglas High as organizers set up and demonstrators streamed in.
Eighteen-year-old Sabrine Brismeur and 17-year-old Eden Kinlock came from schools 20 miles away to pass out water.
Kinlock said that may seem "like a small thing but it helps in the bigger picture."
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10:35 a.m.
The White House is applauding "the many courageous young Americans exercising their First Amendment rights" at gun control marches in Washington and in cities around the nation.
White House spokeswoman Lindsay Walters says "keeping our children safe is a top priority" of President Donald Trump and points to his calls on Congress to pass legislation related to expanded background checks and school safety.
Trump is at his Florida home for the weekend. His motorcade took him to his West Palm Beach golf club on Saturday morning as hundreds of thousands of people were preparing for marches after the deadly mass shooting in Parkland, Florida.
The president has ordered the Justice Department to ban bump stock devices that enable guns to fire like automatic weapons.
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9:10 a.m.
Dozens of protesters are rallying outside the U.S. Embassy in London in solidarity with the "March for Our Lives" protest against gun violence.
Students, families with children and other protesters raised placards reading "Protect kids not guns," ''Never again," and "Enough is enough" Saturday outside the new embassy building in south London.
Amnesty International U.K.'s director Kate Allen referred to the 1996 school killings at Dunblane Primary School in Scotland, in which 16 students and a teacher were killed.
She said: "After our own school shooting at Dunblane, new gun ownership laws were introduced in Britain and that's exactly what's needed in the United States, where gun deaths are a national tragedy."
Hundreds of marches are planned in U.S. cities and dozens of locations abroad.
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1 a.m.
With thousands of demonstrators gathering in Washington, organizers of the March for Our Lives rally say the country has reached a historic emotional tipping point on gun violence.
They predict a half-million demonstrators Saturday near the U.S. Capitol building for a several-hour rally. That would match last year's women's march and make it one of the largest Washington protests since the Vietnam War era.
A poll conducted by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research shows that 69 percent of respondents and half of Republicans now favor stronger gun control laws.
Activists are looking to channel the energy of this youth-led initiative into the midterm congressional elections this fall with elements like on-site voter registration booths.