Canton holding candlelight march

Community leaders in the "City of Lights" are sponsoring a candlelight march through downtown Canton to highlight injustice and unite the community, leaders announced this week.

The event is set to being at 7 p.m. tonight.

Mayor Dr. William Truly is encouraging anyone who wants to participate to gather near the old train depot at 108 Train Depot Drive. The march will travel from there to the Canton Square. Organizers are urging participants to wear a mask due to the COVID-19 virus.

The march is one of thousands of demonstrations that have been held or planned in hundreds of American towns and cities and in countries across the world, in the wake of the alleged murder of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police officers.

"This is something I believe is extremely important to the city of Canton, the state and the nation," Truly said in a Facebook video released Tuesday. "We will be holding what is called a candlelight march Thursday at the train depot. Black, white, hispanic, it doesn't matter. This is a human issue as well as a race issue. It is a human issue because something like this should not happen to any human being.

"This will be a peaceful march, not a violent one. We are not interested in that phase in Canton," Truly said.