Community organizers and advocacy groups are demanding answers and accountability from the Memphis Police Department in the wake of a No Kings Day March over the weekend.
Demands include a release of all body camera footage from the incident, involved officers being placed on unpaid administrative leave, and a dismissal of charges for protesters. These requests were made by several groups including Free the 901, Indivisible Memphis, Memphis Interfaith Coalition for Action and Hope, Vecindarios 901, and more.
Protesters gathered at Robert R. Church Park for a No Kings Day Protest to speak out against President Donald Trump and the Memphis Safe Task Force. According to organizers, protesters marched down Beale Street, South Second Street, and onto Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue before returning to the park.
MPD said organizers had a valid permit for use of the park for a community building rally and resource fair, but not to march. Officers said protesters obstructed traffic and formed a human chain.
“Officers then began detaining those individuals who remained in the roadway,” MPD said.
Organizers said MPD officers “escalated to violence” and said they “tackled, beat, maced, and arrested peaceful participants.” A statement from MPD said officers deployed pepper spray, and detained six people, with three being charged.
“MPD’s actions, including its decision to brutalize people peacefully exercising their First Amendment rights, cannot plausibly be construed as necessary for public safety,” a release from organizers said. “It reflects, instead, a deliberate choice to use force as a tool of intimidation and suppression.”
In the aftermath of the event, organizers said the behavior is consistent with department practices of “unconstitutional policing.” They said the department has continually violated the First Amendment and cited findings from the U.S. Department of Justice.
“MPD’s conduct on March 28 is indefensible,” organizers said. “It violated constitutional protections and inflicted immense, unnecessary harm on people peacefully exercising their rights to protests.
The groups have made the following demands:
- The immediate release of all body-worn camera footage, dash camera footage, radio communications, arrest reports, use-of-force reports, and all related records.
- The public identification of every officer present or otherwise involved in this suppression of peaceful protest.
- Full disclosure of the personnel files of those officers, including their disciplinary records.
- The placement of all involved officers on unpaid administrative leave pending a full, independent investigation.
- An investigation conducted by an entity entirely independent of MPD into potential constitutional violations, the Kendrick consent decree, and other applicable laws.
- The immediate dismissal of all charges against the individuals who were wrongfully arrested.
- A comprehensive public explanation from the City of Memphis and MPD addressing the decision to use force at the conclusion of a peaceful event and the measures that will be implemented to prevent such violation from occurring again.
“Memphians will continue to exercise their constitutional rights,” the groups said. “We will not be intimidated. And those who used violence to suppress peaceful protest will be held accountable — in the courts, in this community, and in the historical record.”
The full statement can be read here.
Twenty-six organizations also sent a letter to Memphis Mayor Paul Young and City Council members urging accountability. The letter condemned police behavior and asked city officials to be transparent in investigating MPD’s conduct.
The organizations requested a formal and public hearing with accessible materials regarding police conduct and that they produce a “comprehensive public report” detailing policy changes, legal conclusions and more.
“The events that unfolded on March 28 demand full transparency, and the officers involved must be held accountable,” the letter said.
