Dozens gathered downtown at two demonstrations on Friday evening to protest the police killing of Tyre Nichols, a 29-year-old Black man who died earlier this month after being beaten by Memphis police officers during a traffic stop.

In Franklin Park, activists with the local abolitionist group Harriet’s Wildest Dreams held space for about 50 community members ahead of the release of video footage showing the officers’ fatal beating of Nichols, a father of a four-year-old. Later in the evening, a small group gathered in Lafayette Square, growing to about 50 demonstrators by 8 p.m. chanting “no justice, no peace.”

Both events dwindled within a few hours, amid a mood of exhaustion among longtime organizers. Several told DCist/WAMU that they would not march through the streets for a lengthy protest – exhausted by decades of police violence and killing of their community members. Instead, they said they are resting and saving their energy to support the community’s needs.

“Black people die every fucking day at the hands of the police,” Mikki Charles, an organizer with Harriet’s Wildest Dreams, told the crowd at Franklin Square. “The list is endless. And I’m tired of coming out here and listing every single name that’s been killed. … It shouldn’t take a national death, it shouldn’t take everybody to see it on the news, it shouldn’t take the releasing of body cam footage of a Black man being murdered by police for people to jump to action.”

Speakers pledged their solidarity with local organizers in Memphis and demanded accountability for a number of recent police killings by the D.C. Police Department.

In the hours ahead of the release of body-worn camera footage, officials in Memphis and Nichols’ family warned that the video was graphic, and local leaders had prepared for it to spark protests. The Metropolitan Police Department had activated the entire force in preparation for possible demonstrations, according to a statement.

Ahead of the video’s release, Charles was one of several people at Franklin Park who said she wouldn’t be watching it.

“It’s the exploitation of Black bodies, it’s how quick they are to normalize the brutalization of Black bodies,” she told DCist/WAMU. “What does [the video] do except show us the brutalization that we’re seeing in our communities every day?”

At both Franklin Park and Lafayette Square, police presence was minimal, with only a few police cars at each site. Near Franklin Park, D.C. police had parked a few vehicles and stood around the street.

Many of the sentiments expressed echoed the weeks of protests in 2020 that followed the police killing of George Floyd by police in Minneapolis. As Taylor told the crowd at Franklin Park, Black Lives Matter still holds difficult memories for many protestors.

“Black Lives Matter Plaza is hurt, harm, trauma, and triggering for Black people, especially activists and organizers,” Taylor told the crowd. “Black Lives Matter Plaza is a performance. I witnessed my comrades, D.C. constituents, get tear gassed and beaten by the police, and arrested.”

Nichols was pulled over by Memphis police on Jan. 7 on his way home from taking photos of the sunset in a local park minutes from his house. RowVaugn Wells, Nichols’ mother, said police stopped her son 80 yards away from his home.

During the stop, he was beaten severely by officers who shocked, pepper-sprayed, and restrained him, according to his family. He was admitted to the hospital in critical condition and died in the hospital three days later of kidney failure and cardiac arrest, they say. The release of the footage Friday evening revealed that Nichols waited 22 minutes for an ambulance after being beaten by the officers.

He has been described by his family as a “gentle soul,” who enjoyed photography and skateboarding. On the night he was beaten, Nichols was looking forward to eating dinner with his family, his mother said.

“My son was a beautiful soul, and he touched everything,” Wells said at a press conference in Memphis earlier this week. “I don’t have any feelings right now, I don’t know anything right now – all I know is my son Tyre is not here with me anymore. He will never walk through that door again, he will never come in and say ‘hello parents.’ I’ll never hear that again.”

Five former Memphis Police Department officers have been charged in Nichols’ murder: Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley, Emmitt Martin III, Desmond Mills, Jr. and Justin Smith. All were fired from the force last week for violating policies on use-of-force, duty to render aid, and duty to intervene. On Thursday, the five officers were charged with second-degree murder, aggravated assault, two counts of aggravated kidnapping, two counts of official misconduct, and one count of official oppression.

The officers were a part of the Memphis Police Department’s SCORPION unit, or Street Crimes Operation to Restore Peace in Our Neighborhoods. The 40-officer unit was created in the fall of 2021 to police “high crime hotspots,” according to Memphis police, and focus on auto thefts, gang-related crimes, and drug-related crimes. Memphis police maintain that the officers stopped Nichols due to allegedly reckless driving, but have not specified what was perceived to be reckless about his driving. They have also not addressed why SCORPION officers, assigned to violent crime, were making a traffic stop.

Residents and criminal justice reform advocates say the unit is known for using excessive force; Ben Crump, an attorney for Nichols’ family, told reporters Friday that officers from the unit have “brutalized” a 66-year-old man, among several other alleged victims he knows of who have been pushed to the ground, cursed at, and suffered other injuries at the hands of officers. He called on the Memphis Police Chief Cerelyn “CJ” Davis to disband the unit immediately.

“From Baltimore to Chicago and D.C., units like the SCORPION unmarked cars — regardless of what the units are named — cause terror in minority communities,” reads a letter from attorney Ben Crump to the Memphis Police Department.

On Friday night, on the facade of the Planet Word museum at Franklin Square, demonstrators projected a list of the demands of the Memphis Police Department, which included dissolving the SCORPION unit, and removing police from traffic enforcement.

Demands posted on Planet World building: pic.twitter.com/BBWYLS9yEc

— Amanda Michelle Gomez (@amanduhgomez) January 27, 2023

In their statement released on Thursday, D.C. police said that the actions of the officers do not “represent the values that any law enforcement officers are sworn to uphold.” But as demonstrators and organizers repeated throughout the evening on Friday, D.C. police have been responsible for several high-profile killings and use-of-force incidents in recent years, only one of which has led to a conviction.

In late December, after an eight-week trial, a jury convicted D.C. police officer Terence Sutton of second-degree murder in the death of Karon Hylton-Brown; it was the first time in recent memory that a D.C. police officer was convicted, or even charged, for a murder on duty. Hylton-Brown was killed during a chase by Sutton in an unmarked car through Brightwood Park in October 2020. Hylton-Brown was driving a rented Revel scooter, and collided with a vehicle after turning onto a street. He died in the hospital three days after the crash. (D.C. officers are prohibited from engaging in traffic pursuits except in extreme circumstances.) The jury also found Sutton and his supervisor, Lieutenant Andrew Zabavsky, guilty of obstruction and conspiracy. They are awaiting sentencing and both will likely appeal the verdict.

Karen Hylton, Karon’s mother, delivered a speech at Lafayette Square on Friday, begging D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser to “let our kids live.”

“We’re asking the government to stop killing our kids,” she said.

On Friday afternoon, Jay Brown, the uncle of Jeffrey Price, a man who died after being chased by D.C. police in 2018, asked the Metropolitan Police Department and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for D.C. to provide updates on cases of police killings, including that of An’Twan Gilmore, a 27-year-old who was shot and killed by D.C. police in 2021. No charges have been filed against Enis Jevric, the officer who shot Gilmore 10 times. In November, a spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for D.C. told DCist/WAMU that the investigation is ongoing and could not comment further.

Activists also want accountability for Troy Bullock, a 28-year-old Black man who was shot and killed by an off-duty FBI agent inside Metro Center in December. Bullock’s family is still searching for answers.

“They deserve to know and they deserve justice,” Charles said on Friday evening at the demonstration in Franklin Park.

In July last year, D.C. police shot and killed 31-year-old Kevin Hargraves-Shird in Brightwood Park. Weeks earlier, Commander Jason Bagshaw, who is known by those in the community for using aggressive tactics when policing protests, fatally shot 23-year-old David Lazarus Wilson while he was off-duty. Charges have not been brought in either case, and spokespeople for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for D.C. did not return DCist/WAMU’s inquiry Friday for an update on either case.

In 2020, D.C. police officer Alexander Alvarez shot and killed 18-year-old Deon Kay in Southeast D.C. Federal prosecutors declined to charge Alvarez in Kay’s death, claiming they could not find evidence he had violated civil rights laws. A D.C. Auditor’s report months later concluded that use-of-force was justified, but that officers acted “recklessly and without a plan,” when fatally shooting Deon. A similar review was conducted by the D.C. Auditor’s office that year, which found “serious lapses” in four high-profile police killings: Jeffrey Price, D’Quan Young, Marqueese Alston, and Eric Carter. Officers have not been charged in any of the cases.

In a statement shortly before the video’s release, Mayor Bowser sent condolences to Nichols’ family and called for justice.

“We don’t even need to see the video to feel outraged that those five former officers, sworn to protect their community and now arrested and charged with murder, killed Tyre,” she wrote. “Tonight, we are a city and country united by tragedy, but we are also determined — to deliver justice for Tyre and change for our nation.”

But on Friday night, press releases and issued statements from officials were hollow gestures, according to local activists.

“We don’t need additional proof to know that we’re not going to tolerate it, even though our elected officials will – day in and day out,” Patrice Sulton of the D.C. Justice Lab said during Harriet’s Wildest Dreams’ rally. “Where are they? They’re not here. They’re preparing statements to release after the footage comes out fashionably late, that say ‘we decry what happened in Memphis.’ And how many of them will go to work on Monday and do something to make sure it doesn’t happen here?”

This post has been updated with details from the demonstrations and a statement from Mayor Muriel Bowser, and to reflect Karen Hylton’s correct last name.