ROCHESTER, N.Y. -- Protesters who arrived in downtown Rochester around 5 p.m. Thursday were surprised by the early closings of courts and the Public Safety Building to residents.
According to the Regional Transit Service website, bus traffic around the downtown area was also impacted.
The group who organized the protest calls themselves Special Parents, Special Kids and is dedicated to helping the Hispanic community.
“This was a protest literally to support the organization B.L.A.C.K, Building Leaders and Community Knowledge, so that they know Latinos, who are also African and we embrace our blackness as well, support them and really understand that no, all lives do not matter, until all black lives do matter,” protester Rosemary Rivera said.
While the group did stand in front of the Public Safety Building for their peaceful protest, they were surprised to find the barriers put up around the complex by police.
“Yesterday, we filled all of this with flyers and today, you see they take out all the flyers from this area,” protest organizer Juan Collado, 16, said. “From the parking lot, they took out all the flyers from everywhere and they close the area.
"We didn’t come here to do something violent. We want peace, we do this peaceful.”
Rivera believes the closure occurred because of press attention surrounding the event and because of the nervousness of what has happened in the past. However, she said she also spoke to the chief earlier in the day reiterating it would be a peaceful protest and said shutting down the PSB to residents sends a bad message.
Rivera said there needs to be more communication between the police and protesters.
“If the next time that they decide to say ‘hey, look at me, I matter, I’m a black person and this society is not working for me, the system is broken, it’s not working for me’ and then what you do is shut it down, what kind of message that sends is something I think people really need to think about,” Rivera said.
In an emailed response, the Rochester Police Department said it was aware of an event that was taking place, but didn’t know to what extent or magnitude. Earlier in the day, Time Warner Cable News was told the PSB did not shut down its operations, but it was closed to the public.
In the email, officers wrote:
“Barriers were placed in a position that would allow citizens to exercise their 1st Amendment rights with little to no police presence. The Rochester Police Department encourages lawful and peaceful events and will provide measures that will ensure citizen and community safety.”
City Council Member Adam McFadden, who is on the public safety committee, said that if this was his decision, he would not be closing anything down. McFadden says people have the right to express their feelings. He said he would be reaching out to the police chief to see how they are handling everything.
McFadden said he thinks this is not that big of a deal like they are making it out to be and not to be alarmed that the PSB is closing down because it's not where the police reside.
Just before 7 p.m. the protest began winding down, the group began to dissipate and those there just hope their voices were heard.