Protesters in San Diego denounce Tyre Nichols’ beating dying, police violence

About 50 protesters gathered in downtown San Diego on Friday evening to denounce the beating dying of Tyre Nichols by police in Memphis and communicate out towards violence by members of regulation enforcement.

The hourlong protest was held exterior the San Diego County Administration Constructing, on the identical day Memphis authorities launched video footage that reveals Nichols being overwhelmed and pepper sprayed by police after a visitors cease on Jan. 7.

Nichols died three days later at a hospital.

A number of the San Diego protesters held a banner that learn: “The Folks Demand: Jail Killer Cops! Nothing Much less.” Others held indicators that learn, “JUSTICE FOR TYRE NICHOLS Jail Killer Cops!” and “The folks demand: END POLICE TERROR.”

At one level, the group held a minute of silence to honor Nichols, a 29-year-old Black man, FedEx worker and father of a 4-year-old son.

The San Diego protest was amongst many who came about throughout the nation Friday evening after the discharge of the video footage exhibiting police beating Nichols.

The movies, most of them recorded on the officers’ body-worn cameras and one from a surveillance digicam, present police punching and kicking Nichols for a number of minutes whereas yelling profanities at him.

5 Memphis cops, all of whom are Black, are charged with second-degree homicide and different felony costs in reference to Nichols’ dying.

Among the many protesters in San Diego was Cole Maravilla, a member of the Social gathering for Socialism and Liberation, who stated he was not glad with the prison costs towards the officers.

“If they really needed to alter something, they’d change the methods of policing that allow this to occur time and again,” Maravilla stated in an interview. “Simply charging people who find themselves doing what their job asks them to do basically is nothing.”

Maravilla known as Nichols’ dying an “particularly brutal homicide” and “further inhumane.”

“I grew up as a Black man in America,” he stated. “Your complete historical past of my folks on this nation is police brutality, homicide and lynching. Sadly it’s simply not stunning.”

Maravilla additionally spoke to the group, recalling that as a child his mom informed him that if police ever beat him, to not combat again — to guard his head.

One other speaker was Yusef Miller, of the North County Fairness and Justice Coalition, who stated the nation’s policing system has seen no substantial modifications regardless of a number of killings by police in recent times, together with the homicide of George Floyd in Minneapolis almost three years in the past.

Floyd’s homicide led to protests in San Diego and throughout the nation in the summertime of 2020.

“We have now not had an ethical shift in policing due to George Floyd — make no mistake,” he stated.

Miller stated he was harm by the very fact the officers accused in Nichols’ dying are Black. However, he added: “The very fact is they don’t seem to be Black, they’re not White, they’re blue,” he stated, referring to the colour of a police uniform. “That’s the problem. … Legislation enforcement is taking these lives.”

He additionally questioned whether or not authorities would have taken swift motion in charging the officers in the event that they had been White.

As for the footage of Nichols’ beating dying, Miller stated: “I noticed a person attempting to outlive. I noticed a person attempting to dwell.”

Officers from numerous authorities and regulation enforcement companies across the nation reacted to Nichols’ dying, the fees filed towards the Memphis officers and the violent photographs seen within the movies.

In San Diego, Mayor Todd Gloria and Police Chief David Nisleit issued a joint assertion saying town shares “the grief and outrage felt throughout the nation.”

“We — inclusive of our complete San Diego Police Division — condemn this betrayal of the badge and the general public belief, and we help the firing and prosecution of the officers concerned,” the assertion learn partly. “What occurred in Memphis won’t ever be tolerated in San Diego.”

San Diego County Sheriff Kelly Martinez issued an announcement that learn partly: “We condemn the actions of officers who act willfully and criminally within the efficiency of their duties. The quantity of pressure, and lack of intervention by the officers is deeply troubling, upsetting and unprofessional.”

Different protests had been held in Los Angeles and Sacramento, the place Nichols had lived earlier than shifting to Memphis.

The Related Press and Public Security Editor Dana Littlefield contributed to this report.