The organization behind last weekend's demonstrations in Rochester is speaking out about what they feel was mistreatment of some of the protestors and they also dispute the way the demonstrations were characterized by city officials.
The news conference by the group B.L.A.C.K., an acronym that stands for Building Leadership and Community Knowledge, was done in response to comments made at City Hall earlier this week by Mayor Lovely Warren and Police Chief Michael Ciminelli.
More than 70 people were arrested Friday night after protestors blocked the intersection of East and Alexander, but Ciminelli has said there were no serious injuries.
Organizers of the protest look at it differently; they claim police were aggressive and pushed and kicked demonstrators, and they're saying that some people had bruises and cuts, and in a couple of instances required a trip to the hospital.
One of the organizers, Adrian Elim, feels that the police response, including wearing riot gear, was unwarranted given this group's previous protests.
"Our organization BLACK has held peaceful protests throughout the City of Rochester since August of 2014, there have never been any incidents, they have always been peaceful so, even from our history and track record there would be no reason to suggest that this would be anything other than a peaceful protest."
The police chief has said officers wore riot gear for protection, especially when they heard chatter about the possibility of rocks being thrown, as well as conflicts between some bar patrons and protesters in the East and Alexander area.
Another protest spokesperson, Anita Snead, is hopeful there will be further discussions with Mayor Lovely Warren, who met with the demonstration organizers for a couple of hours on Sunday.
"There were some things stated that she said she would follow up on, and we're looking forward to meeting again to hear some answers; there were things that she knew about that happened that were very wrong, that we didn't know about that she was looking into , so again, we're looking to have those discrepancies fleshed out, even with the police chief as well,” Snead told reporters.
The organization " BLACK" is also making some demands, including asking that all of the charges brought against the protesters be dropped, and that the mayor and police chief retract what the group claims were false statements. They are also calling for the creation of an independent civilian review board.
A spokesperson for City Hall, Don Starver, said officials don’t want to rehash issues that have already been addressed. Instead, he says city officials want to move forward in a positive direction with the leaders of the Black Lives Matter movement. He says city officials feel strongly about protecting free speech rights, but also have to make sure everyone involved is kept safe.
Starver says in fact Mayor Warren is in Washington, D.C. this week speaking with members of the Congressional Black Caucus about some of the same issues the B.L.A.C.K. organization is talking about.
You can watch a video of the news conference by B.L.A.C.K. on our Facebook page.
