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An account of last night's protest in Rochester, NY via Nate McMurray (Dem candidate NY-27)
https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1302645481181503489.html
Beautiful recap from Jeremy Sher of last night’s events in #Rochester:
“I returned from Saturday's protest in Rochester, having done nothing brave or foolish. I was there, and so were people far more vulnerable than I. People in wheelchairs.
People much smaller or younger or older than I am. People who had gone to other protests this week and whom the police had shot with pepper balls and tear gas. Black people.
The protest began with speeches. The themes were love and justice. Real justice, meaning not only justice for Daniel Prude, but an end to the fear, pain, and privation Black people endure.
The organizers identified the volunteer street medics and helpers with armbands who one could talk to about anything burdening them during the march. People passed around water and baby wipes.
I offered one person passing around earplugs money and they refused. I quickly made friends through a mutual friend.
We marched through the streets, chanting. Now I must warn you, at protests, some of the chants include naughty words and are critical of police.
If that bothers people, they don't have to repeat those parts.
When we got to Blue Cross Arena, we faced a wall of police that declared an unlawful assembly, ordered everyone to disperse, and promptly proceeded to using flash bangs and sonic deterrent to panic the crowd.
The flash bangs were very loud booms meant to freak people out. The sonic deterrent was a very loud piercing alarm sound meant to freak people out. There were almost immediate injuries that medics attended, from what exactly I don't know, but I suspect from being knocked down or trampled.
I was not in the front of the march but I caught some tear gas because the police fired canisters into the crowd. Not enough to cause a serious reaction. I was lucky.
I know one person who caught a direct hit in the face from a tear gas canister and needed to go to the hospital.
Elected officials led the protest from the front; this did not matter to the police.
The protesters did no violence to person or property and threatened none. There was no more harm promised from this march than a protest in Pittsford or Henrietta, where not a single police officer could be seen. That did not matter either.
Never in the course of human history, to my knowledge, has force snuffed out protest unless the rule of law is broken entirely.
What we see again and again, in our history and that of other nations that have known systematic oppression, is that people will temper their fear of authority with a desire for justice, and rally for whatever justice can be found.
I know just from what I saw and heard tonight that justice is still all around us, and thus there is hope.”
</snip>
Beautiful recap from Jeremy Sher of last night’s events in #Rochester:
“I returned from Saturday's protest in Rochester, having done nothing brave or foolish. I was there, and so were people far more vulnerable than I. People in wheelchairs.
People much smaller or younger or older than I am. People who had gone to other protests this week and whom the police had shot with pepper balls and tear gas. Black people.
The protest began with speeches. The themes were love and justice. Real justice, meaning not only justice for Daniel Prude, but an end to the fear, pain, and privation Black people endure.
The organizers identified the volunteer street medics and helpers with armbands who one could talk to about anything burdening them during the march. People passed around water and baby wipes.
I offered one person passing around earplugs money and they refused. I quickly made friends through a mutual friend.
We marched through the streets, chanting. Now I must warn you, at protests, some of the chants include naughty words and are critical of police.
If that bothers people, they don't have to repeat those parts.
When we got to Blue Cross Arena, we faced a wall of police that declared an unlawful assembly, ordered everyone to disperse, and promptly proceeded to using flash bangs and sonic deterrent to panic the crowd.
The flash bangs were very loud booms meant to freak people out. The sonic deterrent was a very loud piercing alarm sound meant to freak people out. There were almost immediate injuries that medics attended, from what exactly I don't know, but I suspect from being knocked down or trampled.
I was not in the front of the march but I caught some tear gas because the police fired canisters into the crowd. Not enough to cause a serious reaction. I was lucky.
I know one person who caught a direct hit in the face from a tear gas canister and needed to go to the hospital.
Elected officials led the protest from the front; this did not matter to the police.
The protesters did no violence to person or property and threatened none. There was no more harm promised from this march than a protest in Pittsford or Henrietta, where not a single police officer could be seen. That did not matter either.
Never in the course of human history, to my knowledge, has force snuffed out protest unless the rule of law is broken entirely.
What we see again and again, in our history and that of other nations that have known systematic oppression, is that people will temper their fear of authority with a desire for justice, and rally for whatever justice can be found.
I know just from what I saw and heard tonight that justice is still all around us, and thus there is hope.”
</snip>
This is my backyard...
Nate's original tweet here:
Link to tweet
1 replies
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