Hundreds of protesters have blocked major roads in Memphis with people chanting “Say his name! Tyre Nichols” following the release of footage showing him beaten by policebefore later dying from his injuries.
There have been demonstrations in major US cities including Washington, New York and Atlanta on Friday night after the video of five Memphis police officers beating black driver Tyre Nichols’ was made public.
The Nichols family legal team has likened the assault to the infamous 1991 police beating of Los Angeles motorist Rodney King.
Cities across the country had been bracing for large demonstrations, with Mr Nichols’ relatives urging supporters to protest peacefully.
In Memphis, protesters chanted: “Say his name! Tyre Nichols!” and hundreds of protesters blocked a bridge on Interstate 55 that is one of two main spans connecting Arkansas and Tennessee over the Mississippi River.
Others shouted “no justice, no peace” while one person said that greater training was needed for the police.
“If there was more training, maybe Tyre wouldn’t have died,” they said, reported NBC News.
In New York there are also hundreds on the streets with protesters escorted by police as they made their way through Manhattan.
Chants included: “Hey ho these killers have to go” while people stated: “We are here to say we are all Tyre.”
A police car was pictured with its windscreen smashed in New York with a protester reportedly having jumped on the vehicle before he was taken away in handcuffs.
Unions in California and Hawaii earlier issued a joint statement calling the actions of the officers “repugnant and the complete antithesis of how honourable law enforcement professionals conduct themselves.”
Read More: Protests erupt across the US after brutal Tyre Nichols killing video is released
