Seventy-four people were arrested at a Black Lives Matter protest in Rochester, N.Y., last night as protests against police shootings continued around the country.
The protest took place in reaction to video of officer-involved shootings in Baton Rouge, La., and a Minneapolis suburb that have dominated national attention and — along with an ambush of police officers at a protest in Dallas that left five dead and seven wounded — compelled President Obama to speak about domestic racial tensions while traveling in Poland for a NATO summit.
“No civilians received any injuries that we’re aware of,” Police Chief Michael Ciminelli said at a press conference Friday night. “Two individuals that did struggle with us had some minor scratches that were evaluated at the scene by emergency medical personnel and they were released. There were no injuries to any officers that we were aware of.”
Protestors blocked traffic in Rochester and refused orders to disperse. “There shouldn’t have been any arrests because there wasn’t anything wrong,” Aiesha Coleman of Rochester told told the Democrat and Chronicle. “We were peacefully protesting and sitting when (the officers) came … We sat and stood our ground. They just started snatching people who refused to move to the side.”
There were also two inappropriate arrests of local reporters covering the protest. “I observed what happened and immediately called to the field commander to have them released,” Ciminelli said, without detailing the specifics of why they were arrested. “I’m sorry that that happened. I did speak to both of these individuals and express my apologies.”
