PARIS – Oxford Hills residents will stand for peace on Saturday night, no matter what the weather has to say about it.

A small, unnamed group of Norway-Paris residents is organizing the event, which will take place from 7 to 8 p.m. at Moore Park on Route 26 in Paris. Participants will light candles in a silent act of opposition to the U.S. government’s policy in Iraq.

The event is part of a movement encouraged by From Every Village Green, an organization promoting protests across the state. The weekend will also see protests on the national level, as the group Act Now to Stop War & End Racism will sponsor an antiwar march in Washington, D.C.

Several members of the local group belong to Women in Black, who stand silently in Norway on Saturday mornings to protest war and human rights abuses.

“This thinking that a bigger stick is the better way and can succeed without dialogue is lunacy,” says Kathy Richardson of Paris. “Enough! Bring our troops home.”

“I don’t want my son sent again,” said Mary van Nest of Norway. “We’re deploying the same soldiers numerous times, and now are sending them into the middle of a civil war.”

The event is intended simply to support peace. Fliers advertising the event, however, call for people to contact Maine senators and representatives and ask them to “de-fund the war.”

“The effort is not so much to draw a crowd as make a statement,” said Jack Richardson.

The group’s public statement invites anyone opposing the war and occupation to attend. It advised attendees to bring candles or flashlights and dress for the weather.

For more information, contact David Stanley at 743-8901 or Alison Whitney at 743-2183. For more information on the statewide protests, visit www.everyvillage-me.us.