Accompanied by an accordion player dressed as Santa Claus, supporters of the Eviction Free Zone (EFZ), a Cambridge activist group, caroled Saturday afternoon in Central Square to raise awareness about tenants' rights.
The group is trying to collect 100,000 signatures on a petition protesting high rents and home prices, which they say are increasing evictions and homelessness in Cambridge. The group plans to deliver the petition to Massachusetts Gov. A. Paul Cellucci in March.
The EFZ has spent the past 10 years lobbying for Cambridge-area tenants, raising awareness of housing rights and fighting evictions and rent increases.
The group was quick to draw upon the holiday spirit to further its efforts.
This year's event featured the tagline "Don't get Scrooged, get organized."
Protestors performed rewritten carols with lyrics such as, "Oh little town of Cambridge/ your rents shoot up so high/ hard working families cannot pay/ our landlords if we try."
Similar rallies in previous years have featured figures such as "the ghost of affordable housing past."
In between choruses of "Cambridge Tenants Rise" (to the tune of "Jingle Bells"), group members with picket signs stopped pedestrians to explain their cause, hand out pamphlets and collect signatures.
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