Rallies in city mostly peaceful
Passionate marches haven’t led to looting, violence in community
When a black-owned business in downtown Memphis had its window smashed during a night of protests, local activists raised enough money to more than cover the cost of repairs.
That damage to Winfield’s Fine Shoes was one of the few examples of damage to private property over six nights of protest against police brutality in Memphis.
Instead, for hours every evening, Memphians marched peacefully through the streets, chanting, “Hands up, don’t shoot,” “Say his name, George Floyd” and “Whose streets? Our streets.”
Although passionate and, at times confrontational, the tenor of Memphis protests have been peaceful — without looting or violence that has struck some cities in recent days.
Sunday night, the group splintered, and a smaller line of protesters walked out on Interstate 55, hopping the median to change directions and, at one
point, diverting through a neighborhood in an endeavor to avoid law enforcement.
That night resulted in arrests, deployed tear gas and some property damage. Sometimes it was unclear whether the people causing damage had been with the march earlier.
“In the past 48 hours, we’ve had 10 businesses vandalized, three police cars vandalized, three incidents of officers being shot at. This is unacceptable and it will not be tolerated,” Memphis Police Director Mike Rallings said at a press conference Monday afternoon.
No officers were shot. It’s unclear if any of the shootings were related to the protests.
Several times, when people began throwing bottles or rocks or knocked over planters, leaders in the protest would begin to scream back.
“Don’t throw s---,” yelled activist Frank Gottie one night, when protesters threw water bottles at a squad car. “If y’all don’t wanna get hurt, don’t throw s---.”
For most of the many hours spent protesting, hundreds followed pastor and activist Devante Hill through downtown Memphis, usually starting at the National Civil Rights Museum.
“With this type of momentum, we can do anything,” Hill said Saturday.
But Memphis’ protests also featured divisions in local leadership, with more seasoned activists opposing Hill’s control.
When the group splintered Sunday night and Hill left after failing to silence dissenters, a smaller group made a long march out onto I-55.
Organizer Rob Brown said he hoped the march would continue until Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland and County Mayor Lee Harris met with the group to give them what they want. Demands included better mental health resources for law enforcement as well as increased training in de-escalation and intervention skills.
“This is the people’s movement,” Brown said
Later Sunday evening, an effort to repeat the 2016 protest when a crowd of more than 1,000 shut down the Interstate-40 bridge over the Mississippi River was met with a line of Shelby County deputies in riot gear. Twice, the group was rebuffed by tear gas and pepper spray, once after some protesters got into a shoving match with and threw rocks at officers.
That night and early into the next morning, 31 people were arrested, nearly all facing one or more misdemeanor charges. The most common charges were obstruction of a highway or passageway and resisting arrest.
But the police tactics used Sunday night were noticeably milder than ones used in an incident that began Saturday.
Saturday night, after the march dispersed, Memphis Police Department officers dressed in riot gear were captured on video tackling a woman on video on Beale Street.
The video was captured by a Commercial Appeal reporter. In it, MPD officers can be heard yelling, “Somebody get the girl in the gray hoodie,” before several officers grab her and pull her down to the street.
The woman, Victoria Jones, was arrested on charges of disorderly conduct, rioting and resisting official detention. She is the founder of a Memphis arts nonprofit The Collective.
Strickland, the Memphis mayor, has since called for an investigation. He has also requested an investigation after a Memphis police officer was captured on camera knocking down a woman protesting on Union Avenue last week.
The day after the failed attempt to take the bridge, activists tried a new tactic: a “rolling bridge blockade,” driving slowly over the Interstate-40 and Interstate-55 bridges, sometimes between 10-30 miles an hour, blinkers on, stalling traffic. Some people raised fists out of their windows.
State troopers had a heavy presence on the bridge, and officers had multiple ramps blocked on both the Tennessee and Arkansas sides of the river, also impeding traffic.
At the same time as the “rolling bridge blockade,” the marches downtown continued.
As protesters marched east down Poplar Avenue, they encountered members of the Memphis Police Department and Tennessee State Highway Patrol. One highway patrolman carried a nightstick. Protesters approached him and asked him to put it away, saying that they came in peace and its presence intimidated them. The patrolman nodded, but continued to hold the baton.
Then, Memphis Police Officer Louis Brownlee, who works in public affairs for the department, whispered something in the patrolman’s ear. The patrolman put down the baton and the crowd cheered.
Stopping in the intersection of B.B. King and Beale Street, the group took a moment to sit in the street and pray before heading back to the “I Am a Man Plaza” to disperse before the newly instated 10 p.m. curfew.
“We’re out here right now … thanking you for Memphis right now, thanking you for the state of Tennessee right now, all these marches that are going on all over this country, black and white have come together like never before,” prayed the Rev. Charles Johnson, a Memphis pastor. “We thank you, God, for bringing us together.”
Reporters Samuel Hardiman and Desiree Stennett contributed to this report.
Katherine Burgess covers county government, religion and the suburbs. She can be reached at katherine.burgess@commercialappeal.com, 901-5292799 or followed on Twitter @kathsburgess.