Voice of Westmoreland, a nonpartisan community group that works to give everyone a voice, is hosting a candlelight vigil Friday, “to end human detention camps” on the U.S.’s southern border.
Members of the group will join the community to “protest the inhumane conditions faced by refugees in our own country,” a news release reads.
The event is part of a worldwide protest hosted by Lights for Liberty, a coalition of grassroots activists. The event will take place in towns across the nation, according to the Lights for Liberty website, including areas of Canada, Germany, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan and Mexico.
Starting at 8:30 p.m. at the 200 block of North Main Street in Greensburg, protesters hope to bring attention to children split from their families and the treatment of children and adult refugees.
“The conditions at the migrant detention centers are appallingly cruel and inhumane,” Clare Dooley, a co-founder of VOW, said in the release. “I am outraged by how our own government is treating people who are fleeing from violence in their home countries. We demand an end to this horrible treatment of our fellow human beings.”
Several groups in Pittsburgh — Casa San Jose, All for All, 1Hood, ARYSE, Pittsburgh United and Bend the Arc — are joining in, according to a Facebook event page. The groups will urge Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf to shut down the Berks County detention center.
