Hundreds rally against hate after cemetery damage, threats
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Rev. Ruth Santana-Grace, center, stands with other religious leaders as the Jewish Federation holds a ‘Stand Against Hate’ rally at Independence Hall, to protest the recent vandalism of Jewish cemeteries as well as hate crimes, Thursday, March 2, 2017, in Philadelphia.
PHILADELPHIA >> Hundreds have turned out for a “Stand Against Hate” rally in Philadelphia in response to the recent vandalism of a Jewish cemetery and hate crimes around the country.
A Jewish federation says it organized Thursday’s rally to “restore a sense of security and peace to our community.”
Over 100 headstones were recently discovered damaged at Mount Carmel Cemetery. Police haven’t made an arrest or determined a motive. Jewish community centers and schools in at least a dozen states were also targets of bomb threats this past week, the fifth wave since January.
At the rally, Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf called the cemetery vandalism “the desecration of the values we all hold dear” and the bomb scares “threats against each and every one of us and our common humanity.”
