Plans are in the works for more rallies and protests this weekend in downtown Rochester.
What You Need To Know
- Plans are in the works for more rallies and protests this weekend in downtown Rochester
- Defense Attorney and activist Leticia Astacio says that her hope is that things will be nonviolent
- Monroe County Sheriff Todd Baxter says to expect to see an increased police presence
Rochester and Monroe County's top law enforcement officials are working together to plan for upcoming rallies. Spectrum News caught up with Sheriff Todd Baxter on his way to meet and coordinate with other law enforcement agency officials.
"Just see that we have sufficient resources,” Baxter says. "Our whole objective is peaceful protest. We encourage them, we champion them, and we will support those. Then also we’ve got to be ready to make sure that any looting doesn’t occur again."
Defense Attorney and activist Leticia Astacio says that her hope is that things will be nonviolent.
Members of the community, including Astacio, who was also downtown, plan to attend this weekend’s rallies. Astacio calls for more people to show up.
"We need everybody that we can get. An injustice anywhere is an injustice everywhere and your silence makes us complicit," Astacio says.
Astacio sends a strong message.
"If right now this is going on and you're sitting at home and you're shaking your head and you're saying, 'This is so sad,' you're the problem. If you don't see a problem, if you're more concerned about buildings and property than you are about the loss of human life, you're the problem," she states.
Sheriff Baxter says that we can expect to see an increased police presence.
"We don't want to be an overwhelming force. We want to have an overwhelming force available, you know, and we assume that people go on and enjoy their life. They want to protest and the First Amendment rights, we support 100 percent, but the idea that the looting and the overturning of police cars and breaking into businesses. There's a full force out this weekend throughout the whole weekend, and we'll be ready," Baxter says.
So plans are moving forward from organizers of the rally and the police for this coming weekend.