Students and community members set aside their partisan differences last night at a candlelight vigil for the people of Kosovo on the steps of Memorial Church.

"Tonight's rally is not about what NATO is doing. It's about the people of Kosovo," said Darryl C. Li '01, the event's organizer, at the start of the vigil.

"The purpose of the vigil is to show support and sympathy for the people of Kosovo...We're looking to reflect...and to show that there are people who care [and] who are aware," he added

Stressing that the vigil was not a political event, Li said that sympathy for the Albanians in Kosovo goes beyond one's political beliefs about the situation.

"One can disagree with the NATO bombing and still deplore the crimes against humanity that are being committed by the Yugoslavian forces against the people of Kosovo," Li said.

Leon Lonstein, president of the New England Albanian Relief Organization, who spoke at the vigil, emphasized the need for non-partisan aid for Kosovo.

"I don't want to get into a political harangue with people," Lonstein said. "We have people who are in need and I want to help them. I want to go to sleep at night knowing that maybe we saved some lives."

Many of those in attendance agreed that it was important to set aside political differences in order to focus on the tragedy unfolding in Yugoslavia.

"I really hope to participate in an expression of solidarity and thoughtfulness against the crimes that are being committed by all sides," said Paul Roehrig, a Belmont resident, who is against the NATO bombing.