LUCENA CITY ? Waving orange mini-flags while swaying to the reggae-like beat of ?Kapayapaan? by ethnic band Tropical Depression, some 10,000 high school students in the city formed a human peace symbol to manifest their desire for peace at a rally on Wednesday in support of the international call for peace and nonviolence.

?We are the next generation. We want to inherit a peaceful world where non-violence is a thing of the past,? said Robert Mendoza, a sophomore student at the Quezon National High School (QNHS).

QNHS students, all wearing white shirts, descended from the grandstand and formed the huge peace sign popularized in the 1960s by hippies in protest of the Vietnam War and the proliferation of nuclear weapons.

The assembly lasted for about 30 minutes, after which Quezon Representative Proceso Alcala and members of international organization ?World Without Wars? (WWW) lit a symbolical peace urn and released several peace doves.

Carmen Cabling-Alcala, a known Mt. Banahaw protection advocate who organized the event with Alcala, said the human peace symbol was the biggest in the world and surpassed the record made by 5,000 peace advocates in Ithaca, New York last year.

She said organizers were surprised at the huge turnout of students.

?We don?t expect this to be this big,? she said.

Isabelle Bourgeois, a Swiss member of the WWW, was moved by the huge crowd of young people forming the peace symbol.

?This is unbelievable!? she told the crowd through a public address system.

Borgeois was holding back tears as she spoke. They were ?tears of joy,? she said.

The peace march, led by the WWW delegation, started in the morning at Perez Park and snaked its way to the QNHS grounds in the outskirts of the city.

When the marchers entered the QNHS main gate, they were welcomed by yellow flag-waving students.

?These peace-loving people are wonderful,? said Gerard Hourdin, a French member of WWW, who kept himself busy taking pictures.

WWW delegates from Argentina, France, Germany, Switzerland and Sweden volunteered to hold the march ?calling for an end to all wars and the use of arms as a means to resolve conflicts.?

In a statement, organizers said the global peace march would travel through more than 100 countries across five continents from October 2 to Jan. 2, 2010.

The march started on October 2 ? the birth date of Indian peace hero Mahatma Gandhi ? which has been proclaimed by the United Nations as International Day of Non-Violence. Delfin T. Mallari Jr., Inquirer Southern Luzon