Shutter & shudder
BLM protest forces R’chester mart to close
An angry mob of protesters took to the streets of Rochester Tuesday to mark the one-year anniversary of Daniel Prude’s arrest and eventual death — shutting down a Wegman’s supermarket and trapping customers and employees inside.
Chanting “No justice, no peace” and “black lives matter,” about 200 people marched through the upstate city, making their way down Main Street to Wegman’s.
The protesters converged on the supermarket and set up tables outside, forcing shop officials to padlock the store at 11 a.m.
Demonstrators wrote “Black Lives Matter” and other slogans on the pavement outside the store, images from the scene show.
“We have a long walk today,” the demonstrators said, according to reporting from WHAM-TV’s Michael Schwartz .“We’ re shutting s--t down .”
Footage posted on Twitter by WXXI-TV producer Max Schulte shows marchers converging on the store.
As many as 100 people were briefly trapped inside the store, Daily Wire reported Tuesday.
The customers were cleared out shortly after noon, according to WHAM.
“We join the Prude family in calling for a day of action and remembrance on the one-year anniversary of Daniel Prude’s death by the RPD,” protest organizers Free the People ROC said in a Facebook post.
“Call out of work, walk out of class, and join us in the streets to demand justice for Daniel Prude!” the post said.
In a statement posted on its Twitter page, Wegman’s said the store was closed “due to protest activity taking place outside the store.”
“Our number one priority is the safety of our employees and customers,” the store chain said. “Our East Ave. Wegman’s will reopen tomorrow 3/24 at 6 a.m.”
Prude, 41, was left brain-dead after being handcuffed and held to the ground by Rochester police officers on March 23, 2020.
Viral video of the encounter
shows Prude, who is naked and in the midst of a mental-health crisis, held down on the street after police put a spit mask over his head.
He was pronounced dead one week later, with the city medical examiner declaring his death a homicide.
Prude’s name became part of a worldwide rallying cry for racial justice and against police brutality also sparked by the deaths of George Floyd in Minneapolis and Breonna Taylor in Louisville, Ky.
Last month, hundreds of protesters took to the streets after a grand jury declined to indict the officers involved in Prude’s arrest and death.