Protesters march on police barricades over pepper-spraying of 9-year old-girl

Protesters marched on the police station in Rochester, New York, on Monday amid public anger at the recent pepper-spraying of a 9-year-old girl.

Videos showed protesters push-over barricades set-up outside the Rochester Police Department (RPD) building as they marched with banners and placards, some with “Black Lives Matter” written on them.

The protest came as several officers were suspended with an investigation pending, after Rochester’s mayor asked the police department to respond to public anger over the arrest of the 9 year-old.

“What happened Friday was simply horrible, and has rightly outraged, all of our community,' said mayor Lovely Warren in a statement. "Unfortunately, state law and union contract prevents me from taking more immediate and serious action."

The mayor nor the police department made it clear exactly how many officers were suspended on Monday night, although nine were said to have taken part in the arrest and pepper-spraying of the 9 year-old on Friday.

At a news conference on Sunday, Police Chief Cynthia Herriott-Sullivan described the irritant used on the child as pepper-spray and declined to defend the officers' actions.

She also said that the child was suicidal at the time, and that “I’m not going to stand here and tell you that for a 9-year-old to have to be pepper-sprayed is OK. It’s not.”

“I don’t see that as who we are as a department,” added the police chief, as two police body camera videos were published on Sunday - and angered the public.

New York governor Andrew Cuomo condemned the officers' actions in a statement issued Monday, and said: "As a human, this incident is disturbing and as a father, it's heartbreaking - this isn't how the police should treat anyone, let alone a 9-year-old girl," the statement said.

"Rochester needs to reckon with a real police accountability problem, and this alarming incident demands a full investigation that sends a message this behavior won't be tolerated," he added.

In a press conference on Saturday, Rochester Police Department had alleged that officers were “required” to restrain the child on the floor because she had kicked at them, and refused to get into a patrol car, before they administered the spray.

Police, who were responding to reports of “family trouble”, said the girl was afterwards taken to Rochester General Hospital, “where she received the services and care that she needed,” and was later released to her family.

The city’s police department has come under fire since the death of Daniel Prude last year after officers put a hood over the black man’s head and pressed his face into the pavement.

It followed demonstrations in Rochester and other US cities last year against police brutality and systemic racism seen by a number of fatal arrests, which included the Minneapolis police killing of George Floyd in May 2020.

Additional reporting by the Associated Press.