Protesters shut down I-55 bridge after video of police beating Tyre Nichols released

Correction: An earlier version of this story misidentified the Memphis-Arkansas Bridge.

Protesters demanding police reform in the wake of the death of Tyre Nichols shut down the Interstate 55 bridge connecting Tennessee and Arkansas Friday night. Footage of the events leading to Nichols' death had been released earlier in the evening, prompting the demonstrations in Memphis and around the country.

As of 8:30 p.m., more than 100 people remained on the Memphis-Arkansas Bridge with protest leaders saying they wanted to talk with Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland and Memphis Police Department Chief Cerelyn "C.J." Davis before disbanding. MPD officers closed off roads leading to the bridge ― and several others Downtown ― but had not directly confronted protesters.

Protesters started moving off of the bridge around 9 p.m. As they marched eastbound on E.H. Crump Boulevard towards police, they locked arms and chanted "we ready, we ready, we ready for y'all." Protestors then turned north, toward central Downtown. As they passed by residences, some people came out on their balconies to cheer.

Law enforcement officials had slowly been working to turn around vehicles that had been traveling westbound across the bridge and had been stymied by the demonstrators. Street lamps on the bridge appeared to have been turned off.

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The protest wrapped up peacefully shortly before 10 p.m. without police interaction.

Nichols, 29, died Jan. 10, three days after a traffic stop by MPD officers which precipitated what the department described as a "confrontation." Five officers have been fired and charged with second-degree murder, aggravated assault, aggravated kidnapping, official misconduct and official oppression related to Nichols' death.

As demonstrators shut down a bridge in Memphis, protests and vigils were held in New York City, Chicago, St. Louis, Portland, Boston, Washington, D.C. and other large American cities.

Protest unfolds in Memphis

Even before footage of police interaction that led to the death of Nichols was released Friday night, at least one protest had popped up in Memphis.

Around 5:30, a few dozen demonstrators had congregated at Martyrs Park on the Memphis riverfront and were reading out demands for policing accountability. Some expressed their condolences to Nichols' family, others called for defunding the police department and some called for the Memphis Police Department to disband the SCORPION unit.

The acronym stands for Street Crimes Operation to Restore Peace in Our Neighborhoods and is a unit some of the officers charged in Nichols' death belonged to. Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland on Friday afternoon said the SCORPION unit is inactive and has been inactive since “this event happened.”

New Beginnings Community Church on Kirby Parkway was also hosting a small prayer vigil Friday night. About 20 people were in attendance when the video was released around 6 p.m.

By 6:15, a crowd of demonstrators had moved onto Interstate 55 and were starting to block traffic. Activist LJ Abraham said the death of Black Americans at the hands of law enforcement amounted to domestic terrorism.

“When is accountability really going to be set forth? I have not seen the video…everything you think you’ve seen, you haven’t seen yet," Abraham said.

“We need a people’s revolution… we are the people and we are the power,” activist Amber Sherman said, as protesters stood in front of a truck on the interstate.

As of 6:30, protesters had moved onto the Memphis-Arkansas Bridge and were attempting to block traffic in both directions. By 8 p.m., the lights on the bridge were off. Reporters for The Commercial Appeal saw no police officers at the scene.

Abraham, on the bullhorn, said they are waiting for Strickland to call back and discuss reform demands. A few people appeared to leave the protest as temperatures dipped into the mid-40s Friday night.

By around 7 p.m., officials had closed off a portion of E.H. Crump Boulevard westbound toward the river, and several Downtown roads had also been closed.

This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Tyre Nichols death: Protests begin in Memphis with video release