George and Amal Clooney have pledged $500,000 to a nationwide student gun control march in the US and also vowed to take to the streets with teens in March.
The philanthropic Hollywood couple have donated the money in the name of their eight-month-old twins Ella and Alexander, and in a statement said they will join the “March for Our Lives” rally in Washington DC. The march is expected to be a rally event on March 24, with an event also happening at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida where 17 students died in a shooting on Valentines Day.
“Our family will be there… to stand side by side with this incredible generation of young people from all over the country, and in the name of our children Ella and Alexander, we’re donating $500,000 to help pay for this groundbreaking event,” Clooney said in the statement.
“Our children’s lives depend on it.”
He added: “‘Amal and I are so inspired by the courage and eloquence of these young men and women from Stoneman Douglas High School.
The demonstration has been organised by students who survived the Florida shooting and accuses politicians of not protecting them. The cause has resonated with students around the country with several areas now organising their own rallies for the same day.
The Clooneys have gone on public record stating that they will pledge money towards causes that are close to their hearts. Last year, for example, they donated $1 million to the Southern Poverty Law Center following a white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, that led to counter-protests and the death of a woman. They also pledged $20 million to their own charity, the Clooney Foundation for Justice.
Gun ownership is protected by the Second Amendment of the US Constitution and remains one of the nation’s more divisive issues.
