Amherst Residents Rally On The Town Common In Solidarity With The Amherst 9

A group of about 15 community members assembled on the Amherst Common across from Town Hall on Saturday, October 29 2022 for an informal rally in solidarity with the Amherst 9.  Together, they created signs to hold for a standout to raise awareness about the incident and lack of official town response.  Members from Defund413Amherst created fliers with information about the upcoming joint Town Council and Community Safety and Social Justice Committee meeting, and a guide for public comment.  The group split up into three smaller groups, standing with signs and fliers at main intersections along the Common.  Participants took the opportunity to inform passersby of the July 5 incident, in which police detained a group of mostly BIPOC youth and told them they had no rights as well as the October 19 incident at Hampshire College in which the police roughly detained and restrained a Hampshire student during questioning.

The event was sponsored by Defund413Amherst, Sunrise Amherst and Progressive Coalition of Amherst.

Defund413Amherst is an abolitionist collective working to defund the Amherst police department and reinvest money into community wellbeing, and community-led  public safety services.  

Sunrise Amherst is a local chapter of a national, youth-led, intersectional movement working to pass the Green New Deal and achieve climate and racial justice.

Progressive Coalition of Amherst is a political action committee that envisions a town whose elected and appointed bodies prioritize policies and programs that support the whole community, including people from marginalized groups.