Parents of the children killed in the Uvalde school shooting in May gathered to protest outside Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s mansion on Saturday.
The families played recordings of their dead children and demanded action on gun control.
“If we can’t sleep, neither can you!” one parent yelled.
In between the recordings, parents shouted the names of their children.
“These are the voices of our children! This is all we have left because you don’t give a damn!” said Brett Cross, whose son Uziyah was killed at Robb Elementary School.
The families had arrived in downtown Austin at around 5:15 a.m., reported the Huffington Post.
Many parents held poster-sized portraits of their children and demanded Abbott come outside.
Later on Saturday, the families gathered on the steps of the Texas Capitol with others to to protest gun violence and fight to raise the purchase age of semi-automatic rifles from 18 to 21.
The protest also included survivors from the 2018 Santa Fe high school shooting, where 10 Texans were killed.
The gun reform group March for Our Lives was involved in the protests, where demonstrators demanded Abbott call a special session of the state Legislature.
At the Capitol, protesters shouted “Raise the age!” and “Vote him out!”
Many family members of those lost in shootings took turns speaking to the crowd.
Javier Cazares, whose daughter Jackie died in the Uvalde shooting, said “Our kids are going back to school and asking, ‘Will I be next?’”
“My sister leaves behind her only child, who has to go on without her,” said Maggie Mireles Thomas, referring to teacher Eva Mireles.
Abbott announced this month that the Texas Department of Public Safety would dispatch more than 30 law enforcement officers to Uvalde for the new school year, but parents are demanding he enact stricter gun laws.
