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Abdulazeem Sheikh, 22, leads others from the group Young Muslims in afternoon prayer. Thousands of protesters gathered at Thomas Paine Plaza for a March for Humanity in support of refugees and immigrants in Philadelphia on Feb. 4, 2017. (Emily Cohen for WHYY)
In late January 2017, Philadelphia City Councilmember Helen Gym was celebrating Lunar New Year with her family when she got a call from a member of Mayor Jim Kenney’s team asking for her help.
Days into his term, President Donald Trump had just issued a travel ban for seven majority-Muslim countries, and now some people were being detained at Philadelphia International Airport could Gym gather a crowd and get out there to protest?