ROCHESTER, N.Y. -- Disappointment, pain and anger -- That's how a number of arrested protesters describe how they felt following Friday night's 'Black Lives Matter' rally.

It was a face-to-face confrontation, between hundreds of protesters and police.

"Going through my mind was justice," Rochester resident Zachary Shackelford said. "Going through my mind was the lack there of."

It all began hours earlier as a crowd surrounded the Liberty Pole in downtown Rochester.

"The message was not only that black lives matter, it was that we need to unify as a people," Rochester resident Kaylynn Brown said.

It ended with 74 men and women in handcuffs.

"We were practicing our rights to assemble," Rochester resident Paloma Hernandez said. "The First Amendment, the right to assemble in a public space. These technically are our streets."

Following the chaos of Friday night, those released, gathered in front of the Monroe County Jail.

"We got calls about people who were arrested and supposedly there was no bail, but then some people got bail," said Adrian Elim, with B.L.A.C.K. "We are still waiting for about 20 to 30 people in here. They were supposed to be released last night."

They continued their pleas for change, which turned to frustration following this statement made by Rochester's police chief early Saturday morning.

"We handled a fairly large scale protest, again, with no injury, no use of any weapons," RPD chief Mike Ciminelli said.

"I watched that from the hospital bed, because I was injured," Rochester resident Richard Yaniak said.

Protesters said RPD used pepper spray to disperse the crowd on East Avenue and Alexander Street.

"I was grabbed by one police officer when I was recording and he took my phone out of my hand and threw it," Rochester resident Kendrick Chea said. "He called me an animal."

Others said they found themselves arrested for disorderly conduct after complying.

"The sergeant or whoever said, 'Ready go,' and all of a sudden six officers charged me," Brown recalled.

Now, their requests for unity are turning to calls for the truth.

"Mayor Lovely Warren though, Mayor Warren, I am very disappointed," Hernandez said. "How disappointed are we? Why weren't you there with us? Why be against us?"

Officers dressed in riot gear ordered a crowd of protesters to move back as they gathered at East and Alexander around 10 p.m. Friday.

Rochester Police Chief Michael Ciminelli said officers facilitated the protest early on in the day, but had to call in additional resources as the situation escalated throughout the evening. He said the department originally had a smaller scale plan that had to be ramped up as the night went on.  

"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. "Actually there were some rocks thrown at officers during this event. So again this is the reason, this is protective gear and that's why we have it."

"The fact that we didn't have any injuries, we didn't deploy any pepper spray, use any weapons, I think we can say we did many things right... and we can continue to work with our community and make sure that when they wanna exercise their right to peacefully protest that we will allow that to happen," Mayor Lovely Warren said.

Ciminelli said even though there were some heated exchanges, he praised his officers for their restraint and thanked protesters for cooperating. 

"I want to emphasize, what ever personal feelings these officers had, overall, we handled a fairly large protest with no injuries, no use of weapons and no property damage," he said.