NEAR 1,000 students from more than 30 basic, primary and high schools in Kingston staged a peaceful protest yesterday morning appealing for an end to the gun slaying of children.

The demonstration was appropriately mounted at the intersection of Spanish Town Road and East Avenue, one of the entrances to Greenwich Town where 13 year-old Norman Manley High School student, Shana Palmer, was shot dead by gunmen who sprayed a toddler's birthday party with bullets on October 28.

A week before, 12 year-old Romeo Lawrence was shot in the head while he sat in a barber's chair on King Street; and on October 18, 15 year-old Shanik Reynolds, who was eight months pregnant, and her three year-old twin sisters, Shavanelle and Shanice Malcolm, were slaughtered in their sleep by gunmen in Rema, a community in South-West St Andrew.

Two weeks ago, a seven-month-old infant was shot dead by gunmen in Hannah Town.

Jamaicans have generally reacted with shock and anger to the killings and yesterday's protest was a manifestation of those emotions.

"We are Jamaica's Future"; "Give us a chance to live our lives"; "Remember: Our children are our heritage, do not destroy them", read some of the placards held aloft by the students.

"I live in the area, and the violence is really affecting me," said Sherdene Absolam, a student of the Denham Town High School. "At times we can't even go to school... nowhere at all."

As the children, the majority of whom were basic school students, stood on either side of the road waving their placards and singing peace songs, passing motorists slowed to read the messages and honk their horns in solidarity.

"This violence must stop," said an outraged, Sheila Grant, chairman of Hope for Children, one of the organisers of the demonstration.

"This extraordinary behaviour by criminals needs extraordinary action; there are no two ways about it," she fumed.

"The members of parliament of all communities concerned must come together and sit down and discuss with the police what they know, because they all have information and the police should take appropriate action," she said.

"If it were the prime minister's and MPs' children who were being killed, it would call for extraordinary interventions. Not because it is ghetto children, we can't afford to lose anymore."

Richard Troupe, another of the organisers, said yesterday's demonstration was "just the beginning of a process" to press the security forces and communities to do more to protect children.

"We are very concerned about the level of security in these inner-city communities. We believe the police can do more and the communities can do more," he said, adding that parents must play a role in ensuring a safer environment for their children.

"It is not fair for 13 year-olds and three year-olds to be losing their lives to the guns. We are sick and tired of it now and we do not want just a plan, we want the plans to be implemented," he said.

Cynthia Roche, principal of Care Bear Basic School, told the Observer that her staff are now depressed after losing students and loved ones to guns.

"Every week the lives of our loved ones are being snuffed out. The children come to school and they are so nervous and scared because some of them have even witnessed some of these crimes," she said.

Roche is hoping that yesterday's protest will influence change.

"They are showing Jamaica and the world at large that they are suffering. They are showing the extent to which the situation has gone. They need a chance to live their lives."

A 20-point plan, which includes the appointment of a public defender for children, a national mentoring programme and more 'children-friendly hot-lines', was released during a panel discussion preceding the demonstration.

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