More police will be patrolling the streets in the coming days, hoping to curb any violence following planned peaceful protests.
“One of the things, first and foremost, is that we want to maintain safety for everyone involved,” said Rochester Police Chief, La’Ron Singletary. “For the public, for those involved in the protest, as well as police officers.”
Last Saturday, a peaceful demonstration turned violent after city officials said the protest was hijacked by “outsiders.”
Dozens of businesses were looted, vehicles were set ablaze, and a woman was beaten by a group of men with a two-by-four.
The events led to the arrest of at least 15 people, with more likely.
“What it boils down to is posture,” said Singletary. “What we want to do is we want to be able to monitor the crowds. We want to be able to monitor with a soft approach. If people are out there organizing peacefully and they’re gathering in groups and they’re doing such in court with their First Amendment right, we just take a monitoring approach.”
This Saturday, Sierra Mendes is organizing “BLM: End Police Brutality” at the Liberty Pole. She says an open line of communication with police would be beneficial, but has yet to hear from anyone.
“Officers are people when their uniforms are off, aren’t they? I mean, even if we want to talk about not being divided on something,” said Mendes, “I would think somebody on the force would want to make sure that what we have to say we can say it in a safe environment.”
Demonstrators are also planning to set up a voter registration table, circulate petitions for the black community and raise funds for a charity that serves the local black community.
— 13 WHAM