BATON ROUGE - Peaceful protests have led way to meaningful discussion, as protesters spoke with Mayor-President Sharon Weston Broome in a private meeting Tuesday. 

"It was a very insightful and meaningful conversation that we had," Broome said.

The group consisted of a handful of college students who organized the peaceful protests around Siegen Lane. 

"They have a genuine concern that you see among many of the peaceful protesters," the mayor added. "And that is certainly the hunger and thirst for justice and also wanting to make sure that we are doing everything that we can to close the gap between law enforcement and the citizens of this community."

Broome says she plans on keeping the lines of communication between protesters and lawmakers open. 

The mayor agrees the protests thus far have been a far cry from the chaos of the Alton Sterling demonstrations in 2016, which resulted in several clashes between protesters and police.

"I certainly think that the response from the police has changed since 2016. We've had in the Baton Rouge Police Department a number of trainings that have taken place."

Since then, BRPD has received several grants for intensive training on community relations. 

 "We have a number of initiatives where the police and the community are at the table together, working through issues and having conversations. I would say those initiatives have been working and there's always room for improvement."