City curfew follows night of 31 arrests, property damage Downtown

By , Daily Memphian Updated: June 01, 2020 6:34 PM CT | Published: June 01, 2020 5:59 PM CT

The city of Memphis is under a 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. curfew effective immediately and until further notice, Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland announced Monday, June 1, the day after a Sunday night protest march ended in several dozen arrests and property damage.

“What this means is if you are out during those hours, you can be arrested,” Strickland said. “With the exception of essential workers and those experiencing emergencies.”


Fifth night of Downtown protests erupts into scuffles with police and among crowd


The list of essential workers is similar to the list of essential workers outlined in March in the city’s initial state of civil emergency for the COVID-19 pandemic.

Strickland said his decision to impose a curfew for the first time in more than 40 years was the result of conferring with other big city mayors in the last week who said they felt a curfew was necessary once there was violence and/or property damage.

“We saw that last night,” Strickland said.

Memphis Police Director Michael Rallings added, “Last night we saw things take a turn for the worst.”

A total of 31 people were arrested in connection with the Sunday protest. Five were arrested in the first protest May 27 that shut down part of Union Avenue in Midtown and another eight were arrested before dawn Sunday morning at Main and Beale, two hours after a Saturday evening protest Downtown — for a total of 44 arrests.

Over the 48 hours of the weekend, 10 businesses were vandalized, three police cars were vandalized and three incidents occurred where officers were shot at, according to Rallings.

Businesses damaged during Sunday’s protest included Winfield’s Shoes & Accessories on the Main Street Mall along with a nearby Walgreens downtown and Flight Restaurant, also on the mall. All of the businesses had windows smashed during the protest. 

“This is unacceptable and it will not be tolerated,” Rallings said.

The charges have mostly been disorderly conduct and obstruction of a passageway or highway.


Fifth night of Downtown protests erupts into scuffles with police and among crowd


Two incidents during the arrests are being investigated by the police department for possible use of excessive force.

“I need everybody to understand if police move in to make arrests and an individual does not obey an order to disperse — the arrest is never going to be pretty,” Rallings said. “If you take two incidents or a handful and paint that as a picture of the entire department, that is not correct.”

Rallings said MPD does not have a policy for “a knee to be placed on the neck of an individual,” referencing George Floyd’s May 25 death where the 46-year-old Minnesota man was pinned to the ground by a Minneapolis police officer, who held him in place with his knee on Floyd’s neck. The officer has since been fired and charged with third-degree murder.

Rallings said each year MPD makes 60,000 arrests and use of force is deployed in less than 2% of those arrests.

“The situation in Minneapolis is wrong and criminal,” Rallings said of Floyd’s arrest and treatment.


Police arrest 8 following Downtown protests


Of the six Shelby County suburbs, most said Monday afternoon that they were not planning to implement a curfew in their cities. Germantown said late Monday afternoon it would implement a 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. curfew “out of an abundance of caution.”

Millington police are adding cars for more security — as other cities have done — but there were no plans for a curfew.

Collierville officials said specifically Monday afternoon they were not implementing a curfew.

Meanwhile, more businesses reacted to the potential problems by closing early, including some area Walmart stores and Sam’s Club locations.

Bartlett and Millington police confirmed the stores in their jurisdiction were closing at 5 p.m., but Collierville officials were told that Walmart would remain open.

And in Germantown, more businesses in Saddle Creek — such as Lululemon and Kendra Scott — closed their doors Monday.

It wasn’t immediately clear whether Tennessee National Guard troops would work with police to enforce the curfew or would remain on standby as part of a statewide guard alert by Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee.

Strickland and Rallings made a distinction among protesters.

Strickland said most “truly believe in their message and want to get it across in a peaceful, powerful and respectful way.”

“The second group wants destruction and chaos, regardless of the cost and who they may hurt,” Strickland said. “We cannot let the second group steal the message to end systematic racism and take hope from most of us who love our city and want to bring meaningful and lasting change to a broken system.”

Rallings made the same distinction.

“We have seen crowds, large crowds come together in powerful, peaceful expressions of your First Amendment rights,” he said. “We also have seen other groups of individuals who have chosen to exploit these events and use them as an opportunity to assault officers, loot and vandalize businesses.”

The Sunday protest featured two groups of marchers – those led by DeVante Hill, who has organized daily marches centered on the National Civil Rights Museum, and a group of other veteran activists critical of Hill’s ties to the police department who mounted a counter march Sunday alongside Hill’s march.

The counter protest group includes many of those who had been with Hill in the first march, at times numbering more than 300 people.

The second march that started at the end of the first march weaved through Downtown streets and made several attempts to shut down the Memphis-Arkansas Bridge and the Hernando DeSoto Bridge before ending after midnight Monday morning.

Police and sheriff’s deputies used pepper spray and tear gas to repeal an attempt to get up a ramp to the Hernando DeSoto Bridge from Riverside Drive.

Shortly after that the group waned — losing people who later rejoined — and then losing numbers as police moved in to make arrests as some windows were broken at Downtown businesses.

Strickland’s administration, including Rallings, and many of the leaders of the splinter group from Sunday’s protest have had a combative relationship since the 2016 protest that shut down the Hernando DeSoto Bridge for several hours.

The splinter group’s history includes a more aggressive policing of protests during Rallings’ early tenure and criticism of the city’s MLK50 observance of the 50th anniversary of the 1968 sanitation workers strike and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination, as well as a City Hall “black list” that included the names of arrested protesters.

Strickland has said he knew nothing of the black list in advance and that the MLK observances by the city included one-time bonuses for surviving workers from the 1968 strike in an effort to atone for the way the strike was handled by then-Mayor Henry Loeb.

The clash has also included the effort to remove Confederate monuments from two city parks — an issue that found Strickland and activists on the same side generally, but each questioning the motives, timing and tactics of the other.

And the city is still in federal court over the police department’s “political surveillance” on social media of 2016 bridge protest activists, which U.S. District Judge Jon P. McCalla ruled two years ago was in violation of a 1978 consent decree forbidding such surveillance.

The city is seeking to modify the decree, arguing it should be modified to reflect current technology and the uses of social media.

Rallings has pointed out there were no arrests at the bridge protest in 2016 and that police have not tried to stop most protests held without a city permit.

Strickland began Monday’s press conference with praise for protesters.

”Thank you to the protesters, those protesters conducting themselves in a peaceful and powerful manner,” Strickland said. “I know that you are hurting and that you are angry and that you want change. I’m with you on that.

”Moving forward I want you to know that I hear you,” he said. “The Memphis Police Department hears you. And the city of Memphis hears you. And we support your right to peaceful protest.”

The most recent curfew in the city of Memphis was during the police and fire strikes of 1978 and was largely enforced by Tennessee National Guard troops.

The curfew was tied to a citywide blackout that saw some instances of looting in a strike that included a larger than usual number of fires across the city.

Topics

George Floyd protests Floyd curfew Jim Strickland Michael Rallings

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Bill Dries

Bill Dries

Bill Dries covers city and county government and politics. He is a native Memphian and has been a reporter for more than 40 years.

Yolanda Jones

Yolanda Jones

Yolanda Jones covers criminal justice issues and general assignment news for The Daily Memphian. She previously was a reporter at The Commercial Appeal.

Clay Bailey

Clay Bailey

Clay Bailey, a lifelong Memphian, has worked as a reporter in the city four decades. He concentrated on suburban coverage for the bulk of his career, except for a stint as sports editor of The Daily Memphian when it launched in September 2018. He now is suburban editor and also serves as a freelance sports writer for The Associated Press.


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