Leaders of Lewiston's immigrant community gathered outside City Hall Sunday morning to ask for peace and to express their condolences to the family of Donald Giusti, the Lewiston man who died after a brawl near Kennedy Park Tuesday night. They say violence has no place in Lewiston and they condemn it "in the strongest possible terms."
As Lewiston police looked on, Fatuma Hussein of the Immigrant Resource Center of Maine read a prepared statement from immigrant leaders who are concerned about rising ethnic tensions and rumors that are fueling them on social media.
"Clashes in Kennedy Park have escalated in recent weeks and community leaders say they hope Donny's death [will] lead to reflection and a renewed commitment to peace," Hussein said.
State and local police continue to investigate what transpired late on the evening of June 12, and how Giusti died. Police have said that as many as two dozen teens and pre-teens, and several adults, were involved in the fight.
They are also looking into whether race or ethnicity played a role.
Hussein said Giusti's death is both a sad time for the city of Lewiston and a setback in the nearly two-decades-long effort to bridge the cultural and ethnic divide between refugees from Somalia and other parts of Africa and residents of Maine's second-largest city.
Fowsia Musse, executive director of Maine Community Integration, said the community does not want to be divided and wants to improve relations with police.
"So we don't want anybody to be attacked. It doesn't matter where they come from or what religion they are. But we have to work together in order for such a thing like this not to take place and that demands collective effort," Musse said.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rAySMuyIu-g&feature=youtu.be
The immigrant group was joined by relatives and friends of Donald Giusti, who said they were grateful for the remarks and share the view that the community needs to come together. Giusti's uncle, Jim Thompson, urged anyone who witnessed what happened to report it.
"I just wish people that actually [saw] this incident happen, come forward, please. All right?" Thompson said. "There has to be justice served, because with the justice, come maybe some solutions on how to fix this problem."
Thompson said 38-year-old Donald Guisti was "a good man, a father and a hard worker" who was trying to turn his life around.
"Some people didn't see it that way, but we did. We're his family. We know. And nobody should have to die the way he did. Nobody."
Thompson then joined hands and shared a moment of silence with members of the immigrant community who also experienced a tragic loss this past week: the drowning of a 12-year-old Somali boy at Range Pond State Park during a field trip.
After the gathering, immigrant leaders held a meeting with police. Fatuma Hussein says she's encouraged with how it went. And this Thursday, in a show of unity, members of the immigrant community are planning to attend a barbeque with Giusti's family in Kennedy Park.
Video by Avery Chisholm.
Originally Published 3:57 p.m., June 17
