Hundreds of protesters took to the streets of Yonkers - and shut down the Saw Mill River Parkway. 

Sections of the Sawmill River Parkway in Yonkers were shutdown just after 5:30 p.m.

The group was protesting the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis at the hands of a white police officer now charged murder and manslaughter.

Police showed up in riot gear to help with the traffic tie-up and redirecting drivers.

A few miles away at the Cross County Shopping Center, grocery shoppers at the Stop & Shop Supermarket heard an alarming message.

"Over the loudspeakers, they asked employees immediately to go to the front and all customers to leave their baskets and just walk out the door," said Casandra Sawyer, of Yonkers.

The store closed early and a police helicopter circled overhead amid fears that protestors were on the way with possible plans to loot the store.

Those concerns follow a day of peaceful protests against police brutality in Yonkers.

The earlier demonstration was organized by local college students.

 

Yonkers Mayor Mike Spano participated in the earlier demonstration.