Rochester, Brooklyn, and Portland all had “bad nights,” President Donald Trump tweeted Monday morning referring to protests in Rochester and Portland, and a shooting in Brooklyn.
The president said all three cities are “weakly run by radical left democrat governors and mayors. Get the picture?”
The president’s tweet, however, is at odds with what was a peaceful demonstration in Rochester Sunday over the death of Daniel Prude.
Protesters have held demonstrations for five straight nights in the city, calling on justice for Prude. Sunday’s demonstration was the largest by numbers, and Rochester police reported no arrests.
According to protesters Sunday, there were no negative interactions through the night.
“This was more peaceful because people saw how things got so out of hand the last couple of nights,” said Cam Darazio of Webster.
Rochester police released the following statement regarding the protest, in part:
“The Rochester Police Department would like to thank our local and state law enforcement partners for their assistance and a special thanks to Dr. Myra Brown and a group of community elders for keeping the protest safe and allowing everyone’s voice to be heard.”
Rochester Mayor Lovely Warren reacted to the tweet Monday, calling on people to ignore the commentary from the president.
“It is clear is his only desire is to bait people to act with hate and incite violence that he believes will benefit him politically. We will not give him what he wants,” Warren said. “We will continue to act with grace and do the work necessary improve Rochester and our entire community.”
Warren said the world saw the “true spirit of Rochester” Sunday night during the protest which drew over 1,000 people.
The mayor thanked Pastor Myra Brown, the community’s elders, and Black Lives Matter leaders for helping “ensure calm.”
“I am also glad that our Rochester Police Department and Chief Singletary followed my edict to adopt a smaller and more restrained posture,” she said. “It is clear to me that their actions were crucial to the peace we saw last night.”
Melissa DeRosa, secretary to Gov. Andrew Cuomo, responded to the president on Twitter:
“Sadly for this President, a peaceful protest is a 'bad night' - he thrives on anarchy and stokes the flames of division.”