The Rainbow Times, New England's
largest LGBT newspaper, on Sunday replaced a display box in Salem,
Massachusetts that had been vandalized.
Seven people dressed in black can be
seen on surveillance video placing fireworks in the box and running
off as the box lights up the intersection of Washington and Essex at
about 1:10 AM on Tuesday, August 23.
The paper's publisher and
editor-in-chief and various city officials spoke at an event Sunday
titled Reclaiming Salem MA, and helped unveil the new display box.
“We will not be silenced,” the
paper's publisher, Grisel M. Ocasio, told the crowd, estimated at
more than 50 people. “We are here to stay.”
Police Chief Mary Butler reiterated
that the incident is being investigated as a hate crime.
Salem Mayor Kim Driscoll also spoke at
the event, The
Salem News
reported.