A demonstration that was supposed to block I-490 in downtown Rochester Friday evening was suddenly canceled about half an hour before it began. The group Save Rochester says the they believe state police were not going to block traffic for the demonstrators as they did on Sunday, forcing them to cancel. Organizers speaking with reporters at Martin Luther King Jr. Park said they will not announce the time and place of their next shutdown, which they said will be soon.
Despite the announcement, a dozen determined protesters went ahead and marched anyway. State Police blocked them from entering the highway. Instead, they marched alongside it through downtown.
They blamed Rochester and state police for not supporting their right to exercise their constitutional right to protest.