Florida high school students protest security measures introduced after deadly shooting

Survivors of a deadly school shooting in Florida are protesting new security rules that ban all but clear backpacks at their school, questioning the measures ability to protect them from gunfire.

Students at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High in Parkland decorated their bags with signs, badges and slogans criticising the security measure.

Seventeen people were killed in the shooting on 14 February.

The attack has seen students across the US unite in a social media campaign calling for greater gun control, with students marching to call for new legislation.

Students have argued the new clear bags will not prevent future attacks and infringe their privacy.

The rules about the clear backpacks, which were provided free to students, came into effect on Monday as classes resumed after the spring break.

The school has introduced other security measures, including new ID badges for students, with plans also for airport-style metal detectors to be installed at every entry to the school.

Students are arguing the bags offer no long-term solution to the issue of gun violence with some pointing out the new rule would not have prevented the February attack, as the gunman was not a student at the time.

Other students have suggested the clear backpacks “accomplish absolutely nothing” as not everything in the bag is visible and there is no way to monitor all the student’s backpacks.

Students have also raised concerns about privacy, with some suggesting the new security measures have made them feel like “prisoners”.

Questions have been raised over the effect the new bags would have on girls carrying sanitary products, or students with personal medication.

A clear-bag policy has been in operation in the US, with the NFL announcing after the Boston Marathon bombings in 2013 that only transparent bags would be allowed into stadiums for games.