Rochester police chief Michael Ciminelli says officers facilitated the protest early on in the day, but had to call in additional resources as the situation escalated throughout the evening.
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On the same night, over 30 people were arrested in Baton Rouge at another Black Lives Matter protest.
While he said he could not go into details of each of the arrests, he did stress that the department “didn’t blindly make arrests”.
“Really for the protection of the officers, we do in situations like that put them in protective gear, but that was only after things reached a certain point”, Ciminelli said. The march turned tense when protesters stopped at the Strong Museum and encountered a line of police in riot gear, reported the Democrat & Chronicle. Police made arrests after protesters continued blocking the street and would not move.
Police say the arrests were for disorderly conduct. Two of the people who were arrested were also charged with resisting arrest. “We were peacefully protesting and sitting when (the officers) came…”
Two WHAM-TV reporters from were briefly detained. Two women were brought to the ground and handcuffed. Officers took the handcuffs off the reporters and released them minutes later.
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By 1:20 a.m., most of the police cruisers left the scene but a small contingent was left to ensure no groups re-formed, according to Commander Joseph Morabito. Both the chief and Rochester Mayor Lovely Warren apologized to the reporters during the news conference and vowed to review what happened.
