Hundreds of protesters gathered Sunday afternoon for an anti-ICE demonstration that ended with a tense encounter between demonstrators and Tennessee State Troopers on Summer Avenue.
The ICE Out for Good protest, organized by Indivisible Memphis, saw demonstrators march from the AutoZone in the Berclair neighborhood to Grahamwood Elementary. Tensions escalated during the march back after one protester was detained by state officials.
Phone video from the scene also shows a patrol vehicle striking a protest marshal who was standing on the street in front of the vehicle.
The demonstration was organized in response to the deadly shooting of Minnesota mother Renee Good by an ICE agent on Wednesday. Protesters demanded accountability from the federal agency while accepting donations for The Immigrant Pantry.
“What happened in Minneapolis was an offense to every decent person in America who believes in due process, justice, the rule of law and the sanctity of life,” said U.S. Representative Steve Cohen, who represents Tennessee’s 9th District.
At the protest, Cohen shared he and fellow Democrats are working on legislation to reform ICE and said he supports abolishing the federal agency.
“They’re not even looking into their backgrounds. They’re telling them if you don’t like your hands being tied by rules and regulations, they won’t be tied at ICE. That’s why we had this lawless behavior in Minneapolis,” Cohen said.
Action News 5 has reached out to Memphis Safe Task Force and Tennessee Highway Patrol for information on the incident with protesters and the detainment. Both agencies have not yet responded.
May these Nazis never get a day of peace for the rest of their days
“Don’t block the road if you don’t want police to intentionally run you over with their cars?” Or is it “Don’t try to run people over with cars if you don’t want them to murder you?”
Walz should order the state troopers to defend the protestors, not oppose them, and fire every single one that doesn’t comply.
US Geography pop quiz: What state is the City “Memphis” in?
Michigan and Texas?
(The issue here is not that I don’t know what state Memphis is in, but that I didn’t pay attention to the city name at all.)
I’ve been there. The goal of the pop quiz is to make you look 😉
The great American state of Egypt. Naturally.
Agreed, but this was in Tennessee not Minnesota, so Walz can’t do anything for this particular incident.
So, thinking about a couple of things, and watching the video of those cops slowly antagonizing and running into protesters, made me remember this post I saw over the weekend.
•Given that we know so much of this is organized theatrics, (For example, on my way home last night, I literally watched three armed and uniformed national guard “patrolling” by just pacing back and forth on a ~50 feet (max) strip of sidewalk under a historic city landmark that’s attached to a neighborhood grocery store). Even though the building is on a corner at an intersection, they weren’t patrolling the building or the block. They had been stationed only on the little strip of sidewalk visible to one of the busiest streets in the city during rush hour.
•Knowing there are national public concerns about people opening fire on ICE/federal officers and being found innocent by claiming the same defense that the ICE officer who killed Renee Good used when he murdered her (not to mention some other questions I would really like to know, like: “why was his safety off?,” “why did he intentionally position himself in front of her vehicle,” and "why did he hold on to his cellphone to keep filming while he fired his gun with one hand?)
Considering all that, I have this “totally crazy hypothetical” question I know I cannot be the only one asking at this point, because more people know how to add 2+2 than this administration seems to give us credit for.
What do you think the chances are, that these officers were instructed to do this by higher ups, with the intended goal of provoking somebody into opening fire on one of them?
I’ll add a link to the ridiculous video so people can watch it, judge for themselves, and come up with their own opinion: https://www.reddit.com/r/memphis/comments/1qagyi6/thp_charges_peaceful_protesters/
I could definitely be wrong, and maybe to other people it looks like something spontaneous that just happened during a protest. To me, it looks similar to the performance I saw on my way home from work last night.
Almost certainly, somebody gave them the order to do this. Do they actually know why they’re doing this? Not that most of the people “just following orders” to do shit like this aren’t sadistic shits on a power trip, but keep in mind, the people who are exploiting us are exploiting us all, even if many of the people doing their dirty work are still somehow too dumb to realize it.
Also, keep in mind as the video points out, the people hitting protestors with their cars aren’t city police. They’re TN highway patrol (THP) and part of the federal taskforce. Memphis city police (MPD) were already blocking the road for the protestors so they could peacefully protest. There was literally no reason/excuse for THP to be doing this.
During the anti-ICE protest THP, despite orders to not escalate from MPD, charged protesters and started grabbing/cursing at them. MPD blocked the road and redirected traffic around the protest and did not engage during the event.
So if they were actively ignoring the orders city police gave, who actually told them to do it?
Steve Cohen sounds like one of the more reasonable and together US Reps I’ve seen comment on these issues. Good for him!
Steve is scared because he is getting opposition from a more progressive candidate, Justin Pearson. I plan on voting for Justin in the midterms: https://www.votejustinj.com/
Justin Pearson was one of the Tennessee Three expelled for the non-serious decorum violation of protesting for gun reform. All three of them walk the walk. If I were in your state I’d vote for Pearson in a heartbeat.