Laramie residents will hold a rally and candlelight vigil this weekend to stand in solidarity and remember the woman, Heather Heyer, who was killed in Charlottesville, Virginia during protests there.

Rihanna Kelver helped organize the ‘Solidarity Against Fascism’ event. She said the event is to remember Heyer and to stand in solidarity with the other protesters injured in Charlottesville.

Kelver said even though the protests in Charlottesville are far away they still have an impact nationwide, which was why she felt it was important to have an event in Laramie acknowledging the protests.

“Any action across the nation is important because everybody that is connected to social media, everyone who is plugged into the news, they’re seeing those events,” Kelver said.  “Doing something here lets people know that there are groups here that are against those hateful actions and hate groups. We just want to make sure that we’re vocal and that our presence is known.”

The event will begin at 7 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 26 in Simpson’s Plaza on the University of Wyoming campus. Kelver said there will be several speakers, including herself, at the rally. The candlelight vigil will follow and then event organizer Amanda Barnes will wrap up the event at 8:30 p.m.

“We hope we have a good event, that everything goes smoothly and people go home inspired,” Kelver said. “I hope people take everything they can from the event and go home with that and have their own little drive of activism that they can take on into the world.”

Kelver said the event will also be collecting donations for organizations to cover any medical and legal expenses of the protesters in Charlottesville.

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