Save Rochester – Black Lives Matter Protest Shuts Down A Section Of I-490

On Sunday, a demonstration led by an activist group called Save Rochester – Black Lives Matter organized a shutdown of a section of I-490 to protest against police brutality and inequalities for communities of color.

The rally began at Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Park and proceeded to march down East Broadway Street and then toward I-490, to close down the road.

The protest leaders had to hire private security because they were receiving violent threats on facebook. There were some instances where the security had to step in, as counter protestors were on the scene as well.

Mikey Johnson, an organizer commented on the situation:

“The main goal was to shut down I-490 and let those racists who were sending all of those negative facebook threats to us, let them know that they don’t put fear in our hearts.”

At first, police presence was minimal, the blocked off streets and halted traffic on 490, but as speakers and demonstrators stopped under an overpass, the procession encountered a line of state troopers blocking the highway.

Again, Mikey Johnson gave his account of what happened:

“The police presence did not disrupt or goal at all. We did get a lot of calls telling us to hurry up and move on and then when we got to a certain point at 490 we were not permitted to go on so we’re questioning what that was all about.”

Source:
RochesterFirst.com