Rally to Rebellion in Downtown Rochester

At 1pm Saturday afternoon members of ACLU and Black Lives Matter organized a rally for Black lives and the end to injustices and murder of Black lives by the hands of police and law enforcement at MLK Jr Park. According to organizers the protests were,”..very peaceful and moving.”

A large crowd marches down Court St in downtown #Roc during a Black Lives Matter Rally. @danc pic.twitter.com/2Ml5Z8DsqI

— Jamie Germano (@jgermano1) May 30, 2020

.@roccitynews pic.twitter.com/ynx4UNxOWW

— Gino Fanelli (@GinoFanelli) May 30, 2020

Iman Abid, the NY chapter director of the ACLU stated that, “Meditations, stories, African prayers, drumming,” took place during the rally. Participants marched on and kept the peace for hours.

The protest I attended in Rochester today was emotional but peaceful. I was there for nearly 4 hours. The organizers did awesome.
Things escalated right after I left. I don’t know what happened, but I stand w/ the organizers and w/ the Rochester #BlackLivesMatter movement. #ROC

— Hilary Shroyer (@HilaryShhh) May 30, 2020

Across online platforms, viewers are seeing a different story. Cars being overturned, businesses are reportedly being vandalized, and fires ablaze. Abid stated, the peaceful protests took a turn when law enforcement began to “agitate” protestors. She continued, “…from what I’ve seen and being right in between the cops and protesters, is the police agitated them. Period. They had officers, drones, tanks that were ready to go off of Ford Street agitated the protestors [because] we were peaceful protesting. The cops escalated it when they pulled out pepper bullets.” A peaceful rally turned into a chaotic scene which many online are saying was ignited by law enforcement.

White protesters forming barricade in front of police @roccitynews pic.twitter.com/8l9GE3z2Ls

— Gino Fanelli (@GinoFanelli) May 30, 2020

Car set on fire saw a bunch of guys beating up the cars pic.twitter.com/0n8egzlT0U

— Tina MacIntyre-Yee (@tyee23) May 30, 2020

This story is still in development. If you witnessed the rebellion today, call (585)678-1039 and leave a short message detailing your first hand experience.