See also No Kings rallies cover the U.S. for the third time

Memphis, Tenn.—Look at these photos carefully. This is what was waiting for us at a peaceful protest in Memphis March 28.

The first two images show a Memphis Police officer in full tactical gear. Not a patrol uniform. A tactical plate carrier with body camera, equipment pouches, and extra canisters. The weapon he’s carrying is a 40mm launcher, identifiable by the asset marking “GL67” on its side. “GL” stands for grenade launcher. It fires tear gas canisters, rubber rounds, smoke grenades, and other crowd-control munitions at high velocity. This is a weapon designed to disperse a riot. It can fracture bones. It can blind people. It has killed people. This officer carried it, loaded and ready, to an event where neighbors were sitting in a park listening to their congressman give a speech.

IT GETS WORSE

That fact alone should stop you. But it gets worse.

Now look at the other two photos and read the vests.

“POLICE HSI.” That’s Homeland Security Investigations, a federal agency under the Department of Homeland Security tied directly to immigration enforcement operations. They investigate drug trafficking, weapons smuggling, and human trafficking. There was nothing at this protest that falls under their jurisdiction. Nothing.

A Tennessee Highway Patrol trooper in the tan uniform and campaign hat. State police, deployed to a city event that Memphis Police are more than equipped to handle on their own.

And then there’s this one. Read the vest on the man in sunglasses: “POLICE DSS.” DSS stands for Diplomatic Security Service. Most people have never heard of them, and for good reason. They are a branch of the U.S. State Department. Their mission is protecting American embassies and diplomats in foreign countries. Iraq. Afghanistan. Somalia. That is where DSS operates. Not downtown Memphis. Not at a permitted First Amendment assembly in the shadow of FedExForum. 

Ask yourself: what is an embassy security agent doing at a protest in Tennessee?

Four agencies. A riot launcher capable of killing someone. Federal agents who normally operate in war zones. State troopers pulled from highway duty. All staged and in position at a gathering where the biggest disruption, before police created one, was applause.

Here’s why this matters: Memphis has hosted two previous No Kings protests. The first one last June drew 4,000 people. Police were barely visible. No confrontations. No incidents. The second one in October drew 7,000 people. Same thing. Peaceful crowd, peaceful event, no tactical gear, no multi-agency response.

Yesterday’s crowd was no different. Same kind of people. Same kind of event. Same permitted, peaceful, First Amendment gathering. But this time, they sent grenade launchers, federal immigration agents, state troopers, and embassy security officers who normally operate on the other side of the world.

MAKING AN EXAMPLE OF MEMPHIS

What changed? Not the crowd. Not the cause. Not the conduct of the people who showed up. What changed is that someone decided this city needed to be made an example.

Officers didn’t arrive in response to trouble. They arrived dressed to create it. And that’s exactly what they did. They pepper-sprayed protesters. They tackled people to the ground. They attacked the volunteer safety marshals whose job was keeping the crowd safe.

One of the people arrested was a safety marshal, grabbed from behind by an officer while she was helping marchers clear the street. No order to disperse was ever given. Most detained protesters were released on the spot. As of last night, not everyone was home. The only aggression came from the people in these photos.

A 40mm launcher at a permitted rally. Embassy agents at a neighborhood protest. A highway trooper pulled off the interstate to stand in body armor outside a park.

And here’s a question for everyone, regardless of where you stand politically: Who’s paying for all of this?

Dozens of MPD officers in tactical gear. Horses. Chemical agents. Hours of staging before the event even started. Squad cars screaming across the city at 90 miles per hour after it ended. Tennessee Highway Patrol pulled off their regular assignments. Federal agents from multiple agencies deployed to a local protest. All for an event where no crime was committed and no charges stuck.

Is this coming out of the Memphis city budget? Is it federal money? Who authorized it? Who’s getting the overtime bill? Memphis residents deserve an answer, because wherever that money came from, it was spent against the very people it’s supposed to serve.

–Protester

***

I was disappointed but not surprised to see the behavior of the Memphis Police on March 28, instigating problems at a protest and pepper spraying peaceful protesters.

In 1998 I attended an anti KKK rally in Memphis. I held a sign, nothing more, and was tear gassed for it. While my friends and I were able bodied and able to flee not everyone was so lucky. I personally witnessed a cop spraying tear gas on an older woman in church clothes and heels who had fallen to the ground.

That image has stayed in the back of my mind during every single interaction with a police officer I have had since the day it happened. [Editor’s note: See coverage of that protest and police riot on page 8 of the Jan.-Feb. 1998 issue of News & Letters.]

–Teresa