Rochester police arrest 74 during protests over shootings

Police arrested 74 people, including two African American reporters, one whom was arrested on live TV, during a protest in Rochester, New York, Friday night.

Rochester Police Chief Micheal Ciminelli said at a press conference the arrests were made because members of his police department and nearby law enforcement agencies did not have enough resources to answer other emergency calls. Warren says she met with some of the protest organizers on Sunday for about two hours.

A video posted online shows a line of police officers with riot gear inching toward protesters and chanting “move back” as many demonstrators appeared to be sitting in the middle of a street.

Ciminelli says one of the big concerns Friday night was because the protest at East and Alexander, right in the heart of the entertainment district, was drawing verbal confrontations between some of the bar patrons and some of the protesters. The crowd numbered more than 400 people, he said.

“Later on that day it escalated a little bit”, said Rochester Mayor Lovely Warren.

An unnamed woman was arrested without any apparent cause during a protest in Rochester while giving an interview with a local TV news team.

Two journalists were also mistakenly arrested.

Both Rochester’s mayor & police chief apologized today to Justin & I for our brief detainment. “They were there trying to do their job to cover this event”, Ciminelli added.

The “74 arrests made it’s hard for us to break down each individual one”, he added.

“Really for the protection of the officers, we do in situations like that put them in protective gear, but that was only after things reached a certain point”, Ciminelli said.