For 737 days, families gathered in Hostages Square to cry, pray and plead for the return of their loved ones. The plaza, once a place for community art and speeches, became a vigil site where grief lingered day after day.
When the hostages were finally released, Bryan Stern, founder of Tampa-based Grey Bull Rescue, stood among the crowd.
“We were at Hostages Square all day,” Stern told TBBW, from Israel. “For 737 days, families gathered, prayed and wrote messages. They shook their fists at the government, at officials, at bad guys, at everyone. And today there were smiles everywhere.”…