Protesters at Rochester Standoff: ‘There’s No Such Thing as a Blue Life’

Protesters heckled police in Rochester, New York, during a tense showdown in a residential neighborhood on Saturday night and early Sunday morning.

“There’s no such thing as a blue life!” one man shouted, through a bullhorn, at a row of police. The moment was captured on video by filmmaker and journalist Brendan Gutenschwager.

“There’s no such thing as a Blue life” Protesters denounce the concept of Blue Lives Matter #Rochester #RochesterProtests pic.twitter.com/tMHcqauase

— Brendan Gutenschwager (@BGOnTheScene) September 13, 2020

Police pushed demonstrators back from the Rochester Public Safety Building, which has been the target of recent “Black Lives Matter” protests over the death of Daniel Prude.

Prude, an African American man, was arrested in March after running naked through the city. Video of his arrest showed that police had placed a “spit hood” over his head to prevent him from spitting at officers. He died a week later, and allegedly had drugs in his system.

Some of the protests have been violent. On Saturday night, there were some scuffles between demonstrators and police.

Cops advanced. Got pepper sprayed. pic.twitter.com/qpb4b00OJh

— Sean Dobbin (@Sean_Dobbin) September 13, 2020

Motorcycles arrived to support the protest, creating smoke to interfere with the police.

At one point, protesters targeted Elijah Schaffer, a reporter for The Blaze.

BREAKING: Blaze Reporter Elijah Schaffer Assaulted By Rochester Black Lives Matter Rioters Dressed Up As Press https://t.co/QptnB9dXyh

— ELIJAH RIOT (@ElijahSchaffer) September 13, 2020

“He’s a white supremacist and he’s doxing people!”

Watch as #antifa extremists whip up a mob against @ElijahSchaffer using lies. This is how antifa got a mob to beat me last year. “White supremacist” is their version of accusing someone of witchcraft. pic.twitter.com/NwzRvN5Kds

— Andy Ngô (@MrAndyNgo) September 13, 2020

There was a standoff for several hours on Child Street between police and protesters, according to local reporters on the scene.

Looks like a bit of police and protester movement has occurred but otherwise we are in the third hour of a standoff on Child Street, one block from a police special operations unit building. #DanielPrude https://t.co/2YA3s0u0aH

— Michael Kilian (@kilian_roc) September 13, 2020

Some of the protesters also appeared to have occupied several residential buildings and lawns nearby — though it was not clear whether they had done so with the permission of the residents, according to Gutenschwager.

A few of the residences near the intersection have been occupied by the protesters. Unclear if homeowners have let them take over this porch and front lawn #RochesterProtests #Rochester pic.twitter.com/paao7CYTK5

— Brendan Gutenschwager (@BGOnTheScene) September 13, 2020

The crowd later dispersed early Sunday morning.

Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). His new book, RED NOVEMBER, tells the story of the 2020 Democratic presidential primary from a conservative perspective. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.