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Of: Emelie Svensson
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ROCHESTER. The city of Rochester is the latest in a series of protests following a brutal police crackdown on a black man.
President Donald Trump has singled out the city, in New York state, as one of those with a “weak democratic government” after the violence, prompting the mayor to fight back.
Aftonbladet followed during the evening demonstrations.
Naked on the wet asphalt, handcuffed, his head covered by a white hood. Police officers pressing his face to the ground. The video of the police intervention against Daniel Prude, 41, father of five, continues to arouse strong emotions in Rochester, New York.
– I felt so many things when I saw that movie. Anger, sadness, my heart was broken. It really struck a chord, because this time it was about our hometown, says Mikayla Strong, 25, who grew up in Rochester, a city of just over 200,000 New York state residents.
She is leading the demonstration on Tuesday night, wearing a tobacco handkerchief for her mouth and foggy glasses on her forehead.
Photo: Emelie Svensson
“Trump is helping escalate the violence. It’s part of the fucking problem,” said Mikayla Strong, 25.
For the sixth day in a row, the demonstration train marches through the city, finally meeting in front of the police station. Mikayla was present for the first time last Saturday when the police fired tear gas and pepper spray at them.
– Then it felt scary and dangerous. It was like a war zone, he says.
“He wants to do justice”
The Daniel Prude case has sparked massive protests here, as well as in Minneapolis and Kenosha, among others, after the George Floyd and Jacob Blake cases.
The incident in Rochester happened as early as March 23 this year, but was only noticed last week after a video from one of the police body cameras was made public.
The film shows how the police arrive in a subdued residential area, at three in the morning, and then find Daniel Prude, naked in the street.
His brother had called the emergency call because Daniel Prude had a mental illness and was behaving irrationally.
The video shows police pointing stun guns at Daniel Prude and ordering him to lie on his stomach. They handcuff and spit on Prude, pushing his head against the ground until he stops moving.
Photo: Rochester Police / AP
Image from the police body camera.
Later, at the hospital, Daniel Prude was diagnosed with brain death. A week later, the 41-year-old man was pronounced dead. According to the autopsy report, the cause of death was complications of suffocation, in relation to a physical intervention.
– All I want is to do justice to my brother. They didn’t want this to come out, for you to see the photos of him. They did the best they could to sweep this under the rug, says Joe Prude, Daniel’s brother, in connection with the night’s protests in front of the police station.
Requires the resignation of the mayor
It took more than five months before the case was made public. This is because Prude’s family got hold of the film and decided to publish it.
Only when attention was drawn to the video were the seven policemen involved in the incident taken off duty.
Photo: Emelie Svensson
The protesters demand that the police be sacked and brought to justice.
Photo: Emelie Svensson
The protests in Rochester have also caught the attention of President Trump.
That’s not enough, say the Rochester protesters, who are now demanding that the police be fired and arrested. They also want the city mayor and police chief to resign immediately, as they are believed to have tried to cover up the incident.
But Democratic Mayor Lovely Warren says she will stay and try to reform the police force. During a press conference, she announced that the city will invest more in work with mental illness and that money from the police budget will be redistributed.
“Part of the damn problem”
The protests in Rochester have also received the attention of President Trump. He started the week by tweeting:
”Rochester, NY, Brooklyn, NY, Portland. They all had bad nights, they are all weakly ruled by radical Democrats from the left to governors and mayors! Do you understand? “
The city’s mayor, Lovely Warren, responded to Trump’s proposal by asking residents to ignore it.
“It is clear that his only desire is to attract people to act with hatred and incite violence, which he believes will be politically beneficial to him,” he said in a statement.
– We won’t give you what you want. We will continue to act with decency and do the work necessary to continue to improve Rochester and our entire community.
Photo: Emelie Svensson
This is the sixth day in a row the demo train has marched through the city.
Protester Mikayla Strong says she believes the mayor could really reform the police, and is not a fan of Donald Trump.
– Contributes to the escalation of violence. He’s part of the fucking problem, she says.
Tense mode
Just before 10:30 p.m. M., A protester throws a bottle at the Rochester Police Station, which means more cops in riot gear appear.
The situation quickly becomes tense. At the front, protesters gather with homemade shields and form a wall of umbrellas, plywood and sledges.
Photo: Emelie Svensson
The protesters form a wall of umbrellas, plywood and sledges.
– This is an illegal meeting. Skingra is immediate. Failure to do so may result in your arrest, the police repeatedly yell over the speakers.
But hundreds of protesters remain. And the screams are even louder: “Say his name, Daniel Prude!”
Mikayla Strong is one of those who stays in the spotlight.
Photo: Emelie Svensson
Police are urging the crowd to disperse, but hundreds of people remain.
Photo: Emelie Svensson
Aftonbladet seconded reporter Emelie Svensson in Rochester, New York.
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