Protesters making an strive to shut down Memphis bridge after Tyre Nichols video liberate

Right to Priscilla Thompson she's with protesters tonight here in the city of Memphis and Priscilla I'm being told by our control room I'm not sure if this is exactly true at this point there the protesters are trying to shut down a bridge yeah that's exactly right Tom we're here on 55 North uh we were coming up on one.

Side of the lanes and we just saw protesters jump over to the other side so they are looking to shut down both lanes of traffic here on this very busy Bridge you might be able to see here in a second that there are already huge trucks that are backed up here traffic is already backing up here and this is the second roadway that they've taken.

Over on the way over here there's another one where we saw more cars being backed up and they are stopping they are waving their signs at these windshields and you hear them saying shut it down you hear them saying uh disband Scorpion and all of these folks were already gathered when this video came out they haven't even seen it many of them not.

Even watching it but you see the anger here you see the organization here will move up a little bit just to show you what these folks have been doing so you see where they're stopping these very large pickup trucks and they are holding those signs up at the windows they're shouting the name of Tyree Nichols and they are calling for change here Tom.

They said that they are making their way to the police department but certainly making their voices heard along the way to all of the people that they are passing on the road here and Priscilla to be very clear have you seen I understand that they're stopping traffic have you seen any acts of violence so far have you seen any acts.

Of property damage so far no acts of violence whatsoever I talked to a number of these protesters earlier today and they told me that this would be a peaceful protest as the family had called for and they say the protester always peaceful but we also heard the police chief here saying that they didn't want to overreact to this.

Situation they knew people would be out here doing things like this exercising their first amendment rights and so they're they're letting them do that I haven't even seen any police officers out here attempting to stop protesters you see someone hopping over here just to our right um.

And I'll point out to you Priscilla also I'm sure you noticed this everyone we can see so far as their face uncovered people are not trying to cover their face it doesn't look at this point like anyone is trying to agitate the situation there I do want to bring in the council members real quick but Priscilla please stand by for us.

Um Priscilla brings up a good point there are no police out there we knew that we're going to be protests there are truckers obviously now stopped on that bridge was this part of the police response to sort of stay back let the protesters protest and then kind of figure it out later we have a very engaged uh activist community that.

That's a fabric of of the conversation between government and the community here and our Police Department understands that usually 99 times out of 100 they're very peaceful very in in the Civil Disobedience peaceful Civil Disobedience so to give them birth and just make sure that they're protected from traffic and things like that is.

Important for us Priscilla do we know Priscilla if you're still with us do we know where the protesters are heading from there are they eventually coming here to the Memphis Police Department that's right time they've said that they are heading toward the Memphis Police Department but certainly taking their time and doing that and as we mentioned.

Stopping traffic along the way and I also want to point out that there are people out here who have these green armbands around their wrists and they told us that they are Marshalls so in the event that there is some sort of conflict with police these are the people that plan to sort of stand in between the protesters and the activists.

And the police should something happen we also know that the Department of Justice has these people from their community outreach team who are also in the area and supposed to act as mediators should anything escalate but again everything here incredibly peaceful there is obviously some stopping of traffic which I'm sure is.

Inconvenient for the people who are on the roads but nothing sort of violent there are no Cars pushing through these crowds they are letting them protest and make their voices heard after this incredibly devastating video has been released Tom okay Priscilla stand by you and your team please stay safe out there but we.

Know we understand so far that there's been no violence here in Memphis and we hope that holds across the country as well thanks for watching our YouTube channel follow today's top stories and breaking news by downloading the NBC News app

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