Waltham Vigil To Be Held Tonight in Solidarity With Charlottesville

WALTHAM--Local activists are banding together to hold a "Vigil Against Hate" tonight at the Waltham Common. The vigil will be held from 7-8:00 p.m, and is being held by the Waltham Concerned Citizens. The group is organizing in response to calls for vigils across the country.

The group is encouraging people to bring signs, and has posted, "hate has no home in Charlottesville, Waltham, or anywhere in our country." The gathering comes after the deadly protests this weekend in Virginia, where white nationalists protested the removal of a Robert E. Lee statue by the town in a "Unite the Right" rally. A car plowed into a group of counterprotesters on Saturday afternoon, killing 32-year-old paralegal Heather Heyer, and injuring nineteen others.

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Jennifer Rose, a member of Waltham Concerned Citizens told Patch, "I think that people realize it is especially urgent now to take a visible stand against hate, white supremacy, white nationalism and Nazism not only because of violent incidents like the one in Charlottesville, but also because the president himself has often seemed to condone hate."

The event has had more than 100 people RSVPed, and more 350 interested.