United States: video of Tire Nichols' fatal beating made public

Image taken from surveillance camera video released by the city of Memphis which shows the beating of Tire Nichols by five police officers, January 7, 2023. AP

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6 mins

The video of the fatal beating of Tyre Nichols, a 29-year-old African-American, in Memphis (Tennessee) was made public on January 28 and broadcast on social networks and in a loop on television channels.

First reactions, first demonstrations: it is the shock in the United States.

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A long beating at night, with punches, kicks, truncheons, sprinkling of tear gas on the face: the Americans discovered Friday evening with horror the extremely shocking video of the arrest of Tire Nichols, an African-American , died at the age of 29 three days after his arrest.

Tire Nichols, sprayed with tear gas and targeted by a Taser gun with electric shocks, tries to flee but is then caught by the agents, who are unleashed.

“ 

 shouts Tire Nichols in one of the excerpts.

His cries do nothing, the police are hounding him like a pack on his prey, reports our correspondent in the United States

.

The 29-year-old is tackled to the ground by two officers while a third kicks him violently in the face.

Then the police raise him, three of them immobilize him while a fourth hits him again.

Punch after punch to the face.

Tire Nichols collapses, but it's not over: a fifth policeman enters the scene and hits him in the back with a truncheon.

The victim is then dragged to the ground, semi-conscious.

The images show him sitting and leaning against the police car, his eyes closed, his mouth open, his face bruised. 

►

The video thus reveals the violence inflicted for several minutes by the five black police officers in the wake of a banal traffic check in Memphis, in the state of Tennessee, on January 7.

“

,” Tire Nichols says in the video.

“ 

 ,” RowVaughn Wells, Tyre Nichols’ mother, said in tears in an interview broadcast by CNN.

Tire Nichols, hospitalized, died three days after his arrest.

The five African-American police officers, since dismissed, were charged with murder and imprisoned.

Four of them were later released on bail.

Reacting some thirty minutes after the explosive video was made public, President Joe Biden said he was " 

" and " 

 ".

Events

On Friday, the first demonstrations took place in various cities across the country.

First in Memphis, where around fifty demonstrators gathered on Friday evening in Memphis, in the southern United States, to demand “ 

” ​​and “ 

”.

" 

 asks a protester armed with a megaphone at Martyrs Park in central Memphis, addressing the city's police chief. 

For Monica Johnson, a 24-year-old activist from Atlanta, it is important now that the police are " 

 " and that all the officers involved are convicted.

Despite the unrest expected by the authorities at the time of the publication of the video, downtown Memphis remains calm, and businesses open.

Marches also took place in Washington and New York, where more than 200 people marched chanting “No justice, no peace”.

Some scuffles took place in Times Square, in the heart of the city.

ARREST AFTER NYPD WINDSHIELD SMASHED IN TIMES SQUARE

Protest after release of bodycam footage showing police assault of Tire Nichols.

Started at Union Square, Manhattan, NYC, Friday, January 27, 2023.

Black Lives Matter Greater New York and Black Opportunity @protest_nyc pic.twitter.com/8TDx0xaNx9

— DataInput (@datainput) January 28, 2023

In a sign that the case is potentially explosive, Joe Biden urged that the rallies be " 

" and spoke on the phone in the afternoon with the mother and stepfather of Tyre Nichols.

Because his death recalls that of

, killed by a police officer in May 2020. Demonstrations against racism and police violence had then set the country ablaze, federated around the slogan Black Lives Matter ("Black lives matter ").

Memphis Police Chief Cerelyn Davis has warned that the video showing the man being stopped for a simple traffic violation was “

” to that showing the violent police arrest of Rodney King in 1991. The acquittal a year later of the four police officers involved sparked unprecedented riots in Los Angeles.

The authorities have been calling for calm for several days, anticipating demonstrations after the publication of a video deemed " 

" by those who saw it.

Family calls for peaceful protests

Tire Nichols' family have themselves called for peaceful gatherings.

“ 

,” said her father-in-law, Rodney Wells.

In Memphis, protesters marched as the video was released, chanting, “

”.

" 

 ", proclaimed the procession in this city where Martin Luther King was assassinated in 1968.

Elsewhere in the country, the police were preparing for possible overflows.

Two Joe Biden advisers have spoken to the mayors of 16 US cities about the protests.

FBI Director Christopher Wray said he was " 

," and Attorney General Merrick Garland said a federal investigation had been opened.

” murder 

, while the left-wing senator Bernie Sanders called for “ 

 ”.

While expressing their horror, the family's lawyers as well as the parents of the young man wanted to salute the " 

" of the measures taken against the police.

Reverend Al Sharpton, a famous civil rights figure who will deliver Tyre Nichols' funeral oration, said the fact that the police were black made 

".

" 

 ," he said.

(With AFP)

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