After footage showing a violent struggle between Nichols and the officers was released on Friday night, demonstrators took to the streets in different cities with various messages, some demanding justice and an end to so-called “police terror,” others with generic leftist messages about “class struggle” and “revolution.”
In some locations, protests were being led by the far-left group known as Antifa, known for being confrontational and violent during protests, according to videos circulating on social media.
Some of the protesters have blocked traffic and caused damage to property.
In Memphis, roughly several dozen individuals obstructed a busy bridge on I-55, which connects Arkansas and Tennessee across the Mississippi River, causing semi-trucks to accumulate behind them.
In the District of Columbia, a crowd of protesters congregated in Lafayette Park, located in proximity to Black Lives Matter Plaza and opposite the White House.
In Chicago, approximately a dozen protesters arrived outside a police precinct.
A protest in Boston also halted traffic.
A witness told Choe, “They’re doing ‘no justice, no peace,’ but they’re leaving out ‘no racist police.’ They’re not saying that tonight.”
His comments were in relation to the officers charged in relation to Nichols’s death being black. Nichols was also black.
The officers’ names are Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley, Desmond Mills Jr., Emmitt Martin III, and Justin Smith.
They were also each charged with aggravated assault, aggravated kidnapping resulting in bodily injury, aggravated kidnapping involving possession of a weapon, official misconduct through the unauthorized exercise of power, official misconduct through the failure to act upon a lawful duty, and official oppression.
Police and government officials, as well as Nichols’s mother, have called for protesters to remain peaceful. Meanwhile, authorities in various cities are making preparations for increased security.
“I don’t want us burning up our city, tearing up the streets, because that’s not what my son stood for,” said Nichols’s mother, RowVaughn Wells, on Thursday. “If you guys are here for me and Tyre, then you will protest peacefully.”
