WATERTOWN, N.Y. (WWNY) - Protests in Watertown, and the rest of the north country, continue to remain peaceful. However, demonstrations in other areas of the state became violent heading into Saturday night.
Saturday, protests in Syracuse escalated as night fell. WSYR-TV in Syracuse reports that people damaged downtown businesses, clashed with police, and broke several windows at the Onondaga Criminal Court House, Police headquarters and the Public Safety Building.
Precautions were taken at the Destiny USA mall Sunday as well. A heavy police presence packed the mall’s parking lot after several malls across the country were attacked, looted and vandalized.
Syracuse Mayor Ben Walsh declared a State of Emergency, and with that comes a curfew for Sunday night that starts at 8 PM and lasts until 7 AM Monday.
In Erie County, there’s a State of Emergency as well, along with a curfew.
Protests turned violent overnight in Buffalo, with one man tossing a burning box through a window at City Hall.
Multiple windows were broken along Main Street, and dozens of businesses are dealing with damage. There are reports of damage in Buffalo’s Niagara Square as well, which appears to have been cleaned up on Sunday.
Buffalo’s CBS Station, WIVB, reports ten people have been arrested in connection to the events.
In Rochester, this is what some protests looked like Saturday afternoon, before night fell:
The situation escalated to looting and vandalism heading into the night.
Posts have circulated social media, many of them stating they are copy/pasted text. Those posts claiming over 60 businesses and buildings in Rochester were destroyed by these acts.
Rochester news station WROC reports five people were injured Saturday night, and police arrested 13 people. More arrests are expected.
According to a WROC station Tweet, Rochester Mayor Lovely Warren says those who participated won’t get off easy.
“We got photos, we got license plate numbers. If you’re at home thinking you got away with this, you didn’t,” said Warren.
Sunday, initiative was taken by thousands of volunteers to clean up after the chaos in Rochester.
We reported these events as they were happening Saturday night. You can take a look at what was happening here.
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