REPORT: BLM Protesters Trap 100 Customers in New York Grocery Store

Conventional and social media report that an estimated 100 customers are trapped inside a Rochester, New York, grocery store by Black Lives Matter protesters. The action followed a street march Tuesday morning, protesting the in-custody death of 41-year-old Daniel Prude.

Black Lives Matter protesters marched in Rochester on Tuesday morning to protest Daniel Prude’s death after being arrested by police. Rochester Democrat and Chronicle reporter Justin Murphy tweeted a series of posts showing a protest that started peacefully.

“The only thing people understand is violence and commerce. We’re not being violent but we are disrupting commerce in this city.” pic.twitter.com/gi1HJv8u30

— Justin Murphy (@CitizenMurphy) March 23, 2021

I’d estimate about 150 people now pic.twitter.com/Pisk3GNDGy

— Justin Murphy (@CitizenMurphy) March 23, 2021

As the crowd moved through the downtown area streets, they began disrupting the flow of traffic.

East and Alexander, still maybe 100 people pic.twitter.com/HeeDW24CV0

— Justin Murphy (@CitizenMurphy) March 23, 2021

Eventually, the crowd, estimated at 200 people, reaches a Wegmans grocery store and appears to block the exits. Store officials are seen locking the doors as the protesters arrived, WHAM journalist Michael Schwartz tweeted.

Other side pic.twitter.com/XXvfAjGz3A

— Michael_Schwartz (@MSchwartzWHAM) March 23, 2021

pic.twitter.com/6R5UXnHG9a

— Justin Murphy (@CitizenMurphy) March 23, 2021

Local radio host Bob Lonsberry tweeted that the protesters effectively trapped “hundreds of people” inside the store. He complained that Rochester police stood by and did not assist.

Hundreds of people trapped in the East Avenue #ROC Wegmans by this mob. The Rochester Police Department is just watching and letting it happen. I guess fire codes and trespassing aren’t things in Rochester anymore. What an embarrassing day for the city and the PD. https://t.co/ICeNJy5jGK

— Bob Lonsberry (@BobLonsberry) March 23, 2021

Schwartz tweeted that the store eventually snuck the customers out another exit but kept the doors closed to the protesters.

Demonstrators have blocked the parking lot with their personal vehicles, as messages are written on the pavement & signs.

Customers that were inside East Ave Wegmans have been let out another side. pic.twitter.com/8ahrdStC7R

— Michael_Schwartz (@MSchwartzWHAM) March 23, 2021

The Rochester Democrat & Chronicle reported that Prude died of asphyxiation after police handcuffed him, naked, in the middle of a snow-covered street. Advocates complained it took city officials and the police department nearly six months to reveal the details surrounding his death.

The City of Rochester has been under Democrat leadership for more than 40 years and now has a black woman serving as chief of police. A six-month investigation alleges city officials misled the public regarding the death and that then Chief of Police La’Ron Singletary “downplayed, omitted details, and misdirected city officials and the public,” the local newspaper reported. The city later fired Chief Singletary and hired Cynthia Herriott-Sullivan to lead the department.

Following Prude’s death at the hands of police, the city experienced continuing protests and riots, Breitbart News reported. Protests continued in February after Rochester police pepper-sprayed a nine-year-old girl.

Tuesday’s march that ended at the Wegmans grocery store continued into the afternoon as protesters block the parking lot with their cars and set up tents in front of the store, the local newspaper continued. The protest organizers told reporters they came to the store on the city’s outskirts in order to not “preach to the choir.”