I try to keep uplifting news on this blog. Or at least for the most part. Sometimes that's hard to do. Especially with Coronavirus. And now with all the nation wide protesting and rioting. It breaks my heart seeing what happened in my city last night. Right here in Rochester.
A peaceful protest against racism and police brutality in America yesterday afternoon was followed by vandalism and looting that spread throughout our county. The original protest began at Martin Luther King Jr. Park around 1:pm and featured a series of speeches on the theme of racial inequality, as well as a march around downtown. The immediate trigger was the killing of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer. The officer has since been charged with 3rd degree murder and 2nd degree manslaughter.
Some members of the group began to damage Rochester Police Department vehicles, eventually setting them on fire. The area in and around the Public Safety Building fell into chaos. Groups of people continued to vandalize and damage property of RPD and the City of Rochester. Police began to employ measures including tear gas, pepper spray, and pepper ball ammunition.
Here you can see cars burned completely to the frame. Flipped over and destroyed.
Police in full on riot gear in the smoke and flames. It's like something out of a movie. Something I never thought I'd see in my own city.
Vandalism on the local police cars.
More cars on fire and flipped.
This image really gets me. I drive over this bridge almost daily when heading to work. Seeing flames surrounding it and smoke so thick it almost blocks the bridge itself. It is heart breaking. It is unreal.
Rochester mayor Lovely Warren ended up issuing a curfew order shortly before 7:30 p.m. yesterday. Monroe County Executive Adam Bello also issued a similar order for the County. Both orders went into effect at 9 p.m. and forbid non essential travel. We have another curfew for tonight.
My wife and I sat up until almost 3am. Hearing fireworks being shot off. (At least we hope they were fireworks. Could have been gun shots.) We listened to the police scanner all night. We had the cameras on and the news going. All this was happening 5 to 10 minutes from us. And now we are concerned it is going to happen again tonight. There are people still looting parts of the city as I write this.
The atmosphere in Rochester, right now is so bleak. It is a feeling of broken-ness and sadness. I understand the peaceful protest. But what was done after the peaceful protest last night was not protesting. It was destruction. It hurt people. Seeing all these small mom and pop shops being destroyed was horrible. Seeing owners of these small businesses trying to keep looters from taking their stuff only to be beaten by 2x4's in the process is horrible!! And sick! As if the Coronavirus hasn't been enough. Now this is happening. I just can't get my mind around it.
There are more protests happening today and tonight. All over the country. Please everyone be safe. Please STOP the violence and hate. Please stop this.....
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