Thousands of people protested gun violence and called for safer schools and gun control during protests Saturday in New Mexico's major cities.

Cities in New Mexico where March For Our Lives protests were held included Albuquerque, Santa Fe and Las Cruces.

The protests were organized in the wake of last month's school shooting in Florida in which 17 people were killed and less than five months after a gunman killed two students at Aztec High School in northwestern New Mexico.

Media outlets report the New Mexico crowds included nearly 4,000 people in Santa Fe and hundreds in Albuquerque.