ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Demonstrators continue to occupy the steps of city hall in downtown Rochester on Tuesday.
The crowd began to assemble at the Public Safety Building Tuesday morning before making their way to city hall.
Protesters have made it clear that they’re not leaving until their demands are met.
The protesters blocked the entrance to the building as they continue to speak out against the death of Daniel Prude while in the custody of police in March.
Members of the crowd took down the American flag and the New York State flag from the pole outside and folded them properly before replacing them with a Black Lives Matter flag and Pride flag.
They also put up wanted posters calling for the resignation of Mayor Warren, Locust Club President Mike Mazzeo, and District Attorney Sandra Doorley.
As the day went on, the crowd continued to add items to the front of the building. A large sign was put up with a list of demands. The activists also began placing palm prints in red paint on the doors and the walls surrounding the entrance.
Their demands include the arrests of the officers involved in taking Prude into custody.
“They keep playing in our faces. They keep doing they keep ignoring the people’s demands. The first one being arrest...fire and arrest and charge the officers, Mark Von, Frank Santiago, and Troy Taladay who murdered Daniel Prude and in cold blood...period," said protest organizer Adrian Elim.
“We think that it’s unacceptable and a slap in the face. We know that there are capable people in the community, in our community to take these positions and we’re waiting to see what happens,” said Ashley Gantt, another protest organizer.
The protesters are responding to the release of a report by the city on Prude's death and the appointment of Mark Simmons as interim police chief.
Deputy Mayor James Smith said that City Hall closed on Tuesday at 11 a.m., as business was not able to be conducted, and that employees left the building without incident.
Stanley Martin, an organizer of recent protests, says it's appalling city council is voting on funding of just $300,000 on mental health services
"We find that laughable and in fact disrespectful, to give the police substation around $16 million and turn around and give the people $300,000 for 25/7 response to a mental health crisis is continuing to set the community up to fail," said Martin.
This is a developing situation and this article is being continuously updated.