Rochester Police say they barricaded off the front of the Public Safety Building yesterday afternoon so that citizens could exercise their first amendment right to protest with little or no police presence.
Police watched a Black Lives Matter demonstration unobtrusively but did not intervene. The department says it encourages lawful and peaceful events and will provide measures to ensure citizen and community safety.
Latinos Unidas rallied on the sidewalk in front of the building on Exchange Street in support of Black Lives Matter. Organizers say they originally planned for about a dozen people to hold up a banner, but about 30 eventually showed up.
Organizer Rosemary Rivera and other members of the group say they were surprised to see authorities react by closing the Hall of Justice early and barricading off the Public Safety Building. They say they never intended to close streets or block traffic as happened last month in the East End.
Police erected a row of crowd barriers between the sidewalk and the approach to the building. Court authorities decided separately to close the Hall of Justice early, but police say they Public Safety Building remained open. No streets were closed but RTS re-routed buses that use Exchange Street in anticipation of a much larger event.