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Crowd grows larger for second Black Lives Matter rally in Scranton

Thousands of protesters showed up on Courthouse Square.

SCRANTON, Pa. — The second Black Lives Matter Rally was slated for 1 p.m. on Courthouse Square but protestors were on hand well before then.

As time passed, the crowd of protesters swelled at least doubled in size from the first gathering, with a few thousand people in attendance.

"I think it's honestly amazing how there's so many different people here, so many different races and we're all coming together," Cynthia Gadsden of Pittston said. "I think it's amazing thing to see and we can really bring a change."

After the crowd gathering on the square, several people gave passionate speeches while others sang songs. 

There was also a moment of silence for eight minutes, 46 seconds to honor George Floyd

"There's a lot of messages that we're trying to get across, but I guess the one main focus if we could put it onto one concrete message, it's that we're ready for change, we're ready to be treated equally and we're ready to make a difference in the world today," Victor Burns of Scranton said. "We're ready to be treated like everyone else. Everyone has the right to be treated like a human being."

This was mostly a peaceful protest, where emotions were felt. 

People from all walks of life coming together in an effort to promote change. 

There was a small number of counter-protesters who stood around the Christopher Columbus monument on the square. 

During the speeches, Bob Bolus had one of his trucks driven down and parked on North Washington Avenue, but only a few took exception that. 

Credit: WNEP

Almost everybody remained peaceful. 

Then, the thousands of people marched on the streets of Scranton as their chants echoed throughout the Electric City.

"To me, everybody is equal and we need to make that very well known," organizer, Ceyonna Rybitski said. "If we're not fighting for equality, there will not be a change and I thought, we need to do this, we need to get out here, me and my friends, we need to make a change now. We can't wait any longer."

The crowd of thousands supported that message. 

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