POTTSTOWN >> In the wake of the events in Charlottesville, Va., over the weekend, organizations in Pottstown are banding together to hold a “Vigil for Charlottesville” on Thursday.
The event, which is being organized in partnership with the Pottstown chapter of the NAACP, will be held at 6 p.m. in front of Pottstown Borough Hall at 100 E. High St., according to a release from YWCA Tri-County Area.
Both organizations are asking area residents to come together in the theme of unity in the wake of the weekend’s violent clashes in Charlottesville, Va., “putting aside differences to promote peace and community and proving that a diverse community such as Pottstown is stronger when we pull together,” according to a release.
Those attending are welcome to bring a poem or words of inspiration to share, and are asked to bring no political signs, only displays of unity.
The vigil is the latest of a string of similar events that have sprung up throughout the Delaware Valley in response to the events in Virginia on Friday and Saturday.
On Sunday, Chester County hosted two events, one in Kennett Square and one in West Chester, while another was held in Media Courthouse in Delaware County as well as in North Wales in Montgomery County.
Hundreds gathered at each, according to reports in the Daily Local News of West Chester and the Delaware County Daily Times.
One woman, 32-year-old Heather Heyer, was killed Saturday and 19 injured when a car plowed into a group of counter-protesters who’d gathered to oppose a rally by white nationalists and others who oppose a plan to remove from a Charlottesville park of a statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee.
The driver charged with driving the car, James Alex Fields Jr., worked as a security officer in Ohio.
Securitas Security Services USA Inc. said in a statement on Monday Fields was on previously requested vacation leave when police say he rammed his car into the crowd. The company says Fields’ employment has been terminated.
Fields has been charged with second-degree murder and other offenses.
In the wake of the violence, President Donald Trump said “many sides” are to blame for violence.
Kenneth Frazier, an African-American and CEO of Merck, the nation’s third largest pharmaceutical company and based in Montgomery County, subsequently announced his resignation from the President’s American Manufacturing Council citing “a responsibility to take a stand against intolerance and extremism.”
Criticism of Trump’s response to events was followed Monday by him further saying that “racism is evil” and he condemned the KKK, neo-Nazis and white supremacists as “criminals and thugs.”
Authorities have not provided a crowd estimate for the Saturday rally of white nationalists in Charlottesville that descended into chaos. But two organizations that track hate groups said it was the largest white supremacist gathering in a decade or more.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
