More than 150 people gathered on the Westford Common on July 12 to add their voices to the nationwide Lights for Liberty event protesting detention camps and inhumane immigration and refugee policies. Speakers included rally organizer, Emily Gilstrap; State Senators Ed Kennedy and Jamie Eldridge; Boston immigration lawyer Chiara St. Pierre; and First Parish Church United Reverend Kathleen Hepler.
A local asylum seeker who identified himself only as Marius, told his story of escaping a West African country after losing his entire family in one day in 1999, when his father, a politician was assassinated and the others killed. The protesters ended the night with a candlelight vigil. Some answered a question posed by a volunteer reporter at the request of the Lights for Liberty organization. The participants were asked to finish a sentence that began with, “I am here because….”
Watch the video of the entire evening’s event here.
Video by Patty Stocker
