PITTSBURGH (Newsradio 1020 KDKA) - Religious and political leaders are reacting to Saturday's violence in the City of Pittsburgh.
Father Paul Abernathy of the Neighborhood Resilience Project says the black community is "heartbroken" by the violence that broke out during Saturday's peaceful protest.
There is a strong sense in our community that the violence comes from, we might say extremist factions that are using this as an opportunity to capitalize on other agendas that they have," said Abernathy.
He says the community needs to be more vigilant of these factions during this "important time."
"People that live in these communities, they are the ones who are affected absolutely the most and so there is a strong distain for this kind of violence from the average people in our community," Abernathy added.
County Council member Bethany Hallam, who was on the scene when the violence broke out tells KDKA Radio other demonstrators and organizers tried to stop the few people that began destroying a police vehicle outside of PPG Paints Arena on Saturday.
"I mean I saw people put themselves in between the people who were going after the police car and the police car just to try to stop it and keep the protest peaceful, because it was about George Floyd," said Hallam.
Hallam says new legislation is required to reform policing nationwide.
Pittsburgh Police are searching for the man accused of starting the riots and vandalism during Saturday's protest over the death of George Floyd.
Video shows 20-year-old Brian Jordan Bartels breaking the windows of a police cruiser against the wishes of peaceful protesters.
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