About two hours after a demonstration against police brutality ended peacefully on Saturday night, a confrontation between a crowd of people and a team of police officers in riot gear and some on horseback played out on Beale Street.
Police had set up a barricade near the Orpheum theater to separate officers from the crowd. Some people in the crowd crossed the barricade onto the police side. When police horses entered that side of the barricade, one officer appeared to try to steady his horse from hitting a protester. Then other horses backed up behind that one in the small space.
A chaotic few seconds followed: police barricades tumbled to the ground and people fell down. Police moved forward. Glass bottles flew through the air.
At one point later, the crowd chanted "No justice, no peace."
The standoff was a dramatic contrast from a peaceful protest march earlier in the evening that had apparently ended without arrests and which the police had largely let play out on its own, without interference. Most of the crowd from the protest march left around 9 p.m. from the National Civil Rights Museum, a short walk from Beale Street.
But after 11 p.m., a group of people and a large group of police officers and sheriff's deputies became engaged in a standoff and verbal argument near Beale Street. The crowd grew to about 60. Some officers arrived with riot shields.
It's not clear if the people in the crowd had been part of the earlier march. Nor was it clear how the confrontation began.
Two people in the crowd said a person was playing the drums and that officers told him to stop playing, triggering a reaction from the crowd. Other people talked about police breaking up a party. By 11:30 p.m., there were about 35 officers on the scene, including one armed with a long gun.
Whatever the origin of the police response, the situation soon turned back to the issue of police brutality.
One of the main people engaged in a verbal confrontation with police was a man who brought up George Floyd's killing. That man identified himself as Darin Alston.
Others tried to deescalate the argument, saying that they didn't want another incident. Then the police moved back, retreating to the Orpheum Theatre. Then another person in the crowd jumped onto a police car and was encouraged to come down by the rest of the crowd.
Police then brought out barricades and were barricading themselves at the intersection of Beale and Main by the Orpheum. An officer was seen pushing people in the crowd. Soon more officers were arriving on the scene in riot gear, including shields and helmets.
During a lull in the standoff, a woman in the crowd in the confrontation with police named Diasha Graham spoke with a reporter from a Bird scooter. "No justice, no peace," she told a reporter. "No race is safe. We all are dying. We need to unite and make a change. And make a difference, all as one."
The standoff ebbed and flowed. After the horses arrived and the barriers tumbled, the situation appeared to calm down. Warnings to clear the area were played over speakers.
Then about 12:45 a.m., officers were beating the riot shields with batons and chanting "Move!" They began moving forward in a phalanx from the Orpheum down Beale Street. In the process, at least one woman was tackled, someone set off a firework and someone threw a bottle.
Details on any injuries or arrests weren't immediately available early Sunday morning.
Police officers on the scene referred questions to the department's public information officers, who didn't respond immediately to an email inquiry.
Reporters saw at least two people get tackled by officers, the woman and another man. A woman tried to put herself between the officers and the woman who was arrested, but it's unclear if this second woman was also detained.
By 1:15 a.m. the confrontation appeared over and people had cleared the street.
A key leader of the earlier protest, DeVante Hill, commented on Twitter: "Tonight just when I thought things were over and we could successfully say we had a peaceful protest, there were young men and women who staggered around near Beale and Main. MPD definitely (incited) them with riot gear, horses and AR-15s . . . " He said two people were arrested, but this could not immediately be confirmed.
"I really believe we can do this. I truly believe we can do this another way. A crowd of 30 staggering people met with intense force like that is just uneasy for not only me to understand but a group of my other white brothers and sisters present as well," Hill wrote.
Just after 2 a.m., Shelby County Commissioner Tami Sawyer said she and a group of people headed to 201 Poplar to support protesters who had been arrested.
“We weren’t here to protest,” she said. “We were here for bail support.”
She said jail officials told her and the group to leave and come back at 4 a.m. but because it was so close to that time, Sawyer said the group all paid for parking in a private lot and decided to wait there.
She said officers then started to count down and tell the group that they had five minutes to leave the area or “lethal force” would be used to remove them.
She said they had a right to be there so they refused to leave without their friends.
“They arrested people that we know, people that we love,” she said. “They are leaders in our community, peaceful folks.”
Around 3:30 a.m., about 50 people were outside 201 Poplar, waiting on the sidewalk and grassy area in front of the Downtown building.
There was no noticeable law enforcement presence at that time, although Memphis police officers had been there earlier with riot shields, followed by Shelby County sheriff's deputies.
By 4:30 a.m., only about 10 people remained outside 201 Poplar.
Earlier Memphis protest ended peacefully despite some tensions
Earlier Saturday evening, a crowd had outside the National Civil Rights Museum in Downtown Memphis. More than 300 protesters ended a similar protest in that spot Friday night.
On Saturday, the crowd peaked near 500, making stops at Clayborn Temple and the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Reflection Park and kneeling for several minutes at the intersection of Beale Street and Second Avenue and on Poplar Avenue in view of the Hernando DeSoto Bridge.
At the Civil Rights Museum, protest leaders attempted to start the rally the same way Friday started — by passing the megaphone from person to person.
A black man spoke first, followed by a white woman. But as the megaphone was passed to a Puerto Rican transgender man, another protester, Rob Brown, took over, saying that black people needed to be at the center of the movement and instructed white attendees to stand back and allow more black attendees to speak first.
Brown is black and has attended many protests in the past, including Friday's.
The response was mixed. While one person handed him a second megaphone so he could speak louder, others yelled their opposition.
Karen Spencer McGee, a black woman, was among several people who loudly disagreed, saying, “It’s gonna take all of us, black, white, gold, yellow!”
Shortly after that disagreement over tactics, the crowd marched to Clayborn Temple, where a list of demands was read. The demands included releasing all protesters from jail and dropping all charges, activist involvement in creating a new curriculum and budget for Shelby County Schools and a citizen veto power for the Shelby County budget.
Shelby County Commissioner Mickell Lowery was among the hundreds marching up South Second. He said his daughter brought him out Saturday night.
“I’m here for her. I’m here for George Floyd," Lowery said. “There are people at home watching, being inspired and hopefully waking up in the morning doing something differently."
While walking in the protest around 8:20 p.m., Theryn Bond, the longtime Memphis activist who read the demands earlier, said: “I’m tired, hot, but it’s important to apply pressure until the needs of community are met."
She said leaders need to hear from those in the community, the ones with high MLGW bills or who have been furloughed from their jobs, for example.
“We need to begin to address the symptoms and the problem," Bond said.
She advocated for a better response from Mayor Jim Strickland.
When the crowd of protesters approached Front Street and Poplar Avenue, multiple squad cars were there to meet them. The entrance to a parking garage that leads to Mud Island was blocked, and as the crowd got closer, Tennessee Highway Patrol vehicles filled any space not filled.
Later, at about 8:45 p.m., the crowd briefly splintered into two with one group of 150 shouting “bridge” and heading down Union Avenue toward the Mississippi River before turning to rejoin the larger group moments later on Main Street.
As that group walked down Front, Phalisha Jackson walked near the back.
“It shouldn’t take the outrage of the public to arrest a police officer,” Jackson said of Derek Chauvin, the former Minneapolis police officer who was charged with third-degree murder in the death of Floyd.
By 9 pm., the group had completed a fast-paced walk through Downtown and arrived back at the Lorraine Motel.
Memphis pastor and activist DeVante Hill said the protesters would use their ability to protest with order and decency. He said tearing up businesses will make them look bad.
“With this type of momentum, we can do anything," Hill said.
Just after 9 p.m. hundreds of protesters went back to their cars and walked north on Mulberry Street.
David Schuermann, 69, stood on his porch and applauded. A pair of protesters handed him a cardboard sign that had “Black Lives Matter” written in marker.
“I think they’re doing a good job being peaceful,” said Schuermann of the protesters. He said he thought it stayed that way because the police presence didn’t antagonize the crowd.
“The police have been pretty good. I think they’ve been well behaved, and the protesters have been well behaved,“ Schuermann said.
He saw similarities in the death of Floyd and others at hands of police to that of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., 100 yards away, 52 years earlier.
“I was a teenager when Martin Luther King Jr. was killed... It’s the same damn thing. It keeps happening,” Schuermann said. “We need to solve the problem, which is system racism.”
The evening march was one of two demonstrations on Saturday. Earlier in the day, a group of about two dozen protesters met outside the Mt. Moriah police station, according to a video of the event posted on Facebook.
In the video, the protest organizer said the group was there to stop police brutality.
A timeline of protests in Memphis
The nightly rallies began with a silent demonstration Wednesday intended to protest the deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and Ahmaud Arbery but turned into separate verbal confrontations with Memphis police and two counter-protesters.
Wednesday: 'Stop killing black people': Demonstration closes Union Avenue as protesters face off with counter-protesters, MPD
On Thursday evening, no counter-protesters appeared and the police presence was less pronounced.
Thursday: Protesters gather against police brutality for a second night in Memphis
By Friday morning, Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland called for an investigation of police actions during the protest on Union Avenue.
Friday: Mayor Strickland calls for investigation of police actions during Memphis protest
The statement was an apparent reference to a video that showed a police officer with a riot shield knocking down a woman. The protest that began Wednesday night extended until after 1 a.m. once MPD brought out barricades between protesters and its officer who were silently standing dressed in riot gear.
Thursday: County, state officials criticize Memphis Police Department, administration's response to protest
Friday: Memphis protesters take to Downtown streets for third night of demonstrations
By Friday evening, a demonstration began at FedExForum, winding through downtown, stopping at City Hall and ending at the National Civil Rights Museum at the Lorraine Motel.
Memphis pastor and activist DeVante Hill shared his megaphone, giving anyone who wanted to a chance to address the crowd.
Some people shared stories about their own interactions with police. One woman sang to the crowd. One man simply asked the crowd to say out loud that Black Lives Matter.
Around 8:15, they walked to Beale Street and B.B. King Boulevard and blocked the intersection for nine minutes, one for each minute Floyd spent repeatedly saying he couldn't breathe before his death.
The demonstration ended without incident outside the room where the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated. The crowd sat on the ground covering most of the paved walkway leading to the museum's doors and listened to each other share.
"This is not a political movement," Hill said. "This is a people movement."
Memphis protests among week of demonstrations nationwide
The Memphis protests were part of a series of demonstrations in cities across the county sparked by Floyd's death in Minneapolis.
He died Monday after a Minneapolis police officer pressed his knee into Floyd's neck for several minutes after Floyd was restrained. The police department said they responded to a "forgery in progress," found a suspect and ordered the suspect to get out of his vehicle.
The four officers involved in the incident have been fired. Minneapolis police identified the officers Wednesday as Derek Chauvin — the officer who knelt on Floyd's neck — Thomas Lane, Tou Thao and J. Alexander Kueng.
After several nights of protests, Chauvin was arrested Friday.
More: Former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin arrested in George Floyd's death: Updates
Minneapolis, Louisville, Atlanta, Chicago, Denver, Los Angeles, New York, Columbus, among other cities, have seen crowds convene, chanting "I can't breathe" and "No justice, no peace."
More: George Floyd protests erupt across nation: Police clear streets after fires in Minneapolis; violence in Columbus, Louisville
In Minneapolis, where Floyd was killed, a police precinct was set on fire late Thursday.
Protesters across the county have been met by police in riot gear with pepper spray, rubber bullets and gas canisters.
USA Today reporters contributed to this report.
"street" - Google News
May 31, 2020 at 06:03PM
https://ift.tt/36JzP8E
Police in riot gear descend on Beale Street after earlier demonstration ended peacefully - Commercial Appeal
"street" - Google News
https://ift.tt/2Ql4mmJ
Shoes Man Tutorial
Pos News Update
Meme Update
Korean Entertainment News
Japan News Update
No comments:
Post a Comment