The “People’s Solidarity Rally” against the new Donald Trump Presidency started early, ended late and brought more than 2,000 people to Washington Square Park in downtown Rochester (not all at the same time).
It brought numerous calls to organize and support progressive causes from local leaders of NOW, from Rochester Mayor Lovely Warren and other local elected officials. It also brought charges against seven people, all arrested by Rochester Police for “inciting to riot.”
Police say on several occasions people described by some of the demonstrators as self-proclaimed anarchists tried to intimidate people, disrupt the event and solicit others to join them. One allegedly assaulted a Trump supporter who was counter-demonstrating. Near the end of the rally, three of them were charged for punching one of the many cameramen covering the event. The incident was caught on video.
Police Charged:
- Corey Smith, 30, of Fairport for Harassment 2nd and Inciting to Riot
- Samantha Saversky, 25, of Fairport for Harassment 2nd and Inciting to Riot
- Elijah Kosowski, 21, of Rochester for Harassment 2nd and Inciting to Riot
- Meghesh Pansari, 21, of Brighton for Inciting to Riot
- Christopher Redman, 39, of Caledonia for Inciting to Riot
- Kyle Leonard, 24, of Webster for Inciting to Riot
- Angela Tona, 21, of Rochester for Inciting to Riot
The event was organized as a sister rally to the “Million Women” march in Washington. Police blocked off streets around the park and along the path of marchers who gathered at the Liberty Pole before heading up Main Street to North Clinton Avenue. They also closed the North Clinton Avenue exit from I-490. Other access roads to the event remained open.
State Labor Commissioner Robert Reardon drew cheers when she announced that Governor Cuomo has ordered insurance companies to cover most contraceptives and medically-required abortion services to women without co-pays or deductibles.
That puts the guarantees in President Obama’s Affordable Care Act into state law.