Protests continued Sunday night across the United States but the flare-ups in violence and police clashes were largely absent, though 15 protesters were arrested in Portland.
Conway G.
Gittens reports.
Sunday protests remain mostly calm after nightfall
(UPSOUND) Which side are you on my people, which side are you on?" From Rochester, New York to Minneapolis, Minnesota to Portland, Oregon - protests continued through Sunday night.
But with a calmer tone.
In an attempt to prevent clashes with police in Rochester...the city's clergy and elders took the lead at the front of Sunday's march.
"We're trying to appeal to the moral conscience of our authority figures in the city...to the police department, to the city administration.
We're trying to appeal to them on moral grounds that this is a righteous protest." "I don't want the police to spray the young people.
I don't want the young people to throw rocks and so I'm a buffer of older people between the police and the younger people." That strategy seemed to work.
The protesters were able to march farther and longer without any violence or clashes with the police, as demonstrations stretched into a fifth evening.
Protests began last week after the family of Daniel Prude released footage showing a hooded, naked Prude being pinned to the floor by police officers back in March.
He later died at the hospital.
(UPSOUND) "If we want better, we gotta make it better." Rochester's Mayor Lovely Warren promised residents that changes are coming to policing.
"We are doubling the availability of mental health professionals.
We will take our family crisis intervention team out of the police department." On the other side of the country in Portland, 15 people were arrested on the 101st day of demonstrations in that city.
Charges ranged from interfering with a peace officer and disorderly conduct, to possession of a dangerous device and reckless burning.
But besides a few torched mattresses, it was not a repeat of the previous night when 59 people were arrested after clashes with the police.
The tone Sunday night was also calmer in Minneapolis.
Demonstrators filled the streets with customized cars in a drive-thru protest.
"Nobody got hurt.
Nobody got injured.
And the police was able to keep their distance and play the role they were supposed to play." Violence has marred some of the many protests held since May when George Floyd died after a police officer knelt on him for nearly 9 minutes.
Protesters now hope for an easing of the night-time rioting and police clashes… as they threaten to take the spotlight from the daytime marches calling for social justice and equality for Black Americans.
