A video from last weekend shows pro-Palestinian protestors marching down the I-40 highway in Memphis, blocking traffic.
“Demonstrators for a Pro-Palestinian protest that began at City Hall are marching across the Memphis-Arkansas I-40 bridge, causing lanes to completely close,” according to WREG, who posted the video to their YouTube channel.
The video shows approximately 40 protestors marching on the highway over Hernando de Soto Bridge, which crosses the Mississippi River.
The activist group claiming credit for the bridge shutdown is called Memphis Voices for Palestine, or “MVP.” The group has a collection of video recordings on Facebook and Instagram documenting the protest event. One activist can be heard encouraging the throng gathered on the bridge to stay and that MVP has everything “set up.” The individual added that she had to leave, however, due to her “jail and bail support” status.
No arrests have been made as of press time.
State Sen. Brent Taylor (R-Memphis), who has recently been blasting Memphis officials of soft-on-crime policies, penned a letter to Director David Rausch of the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI) to make him aware of the situation.
“I would like to make you aware, at approximately 3:10pm, Saturday, February 3, the Memphis Police Department responded to a disturbance on the Hernando DeSoto Bridge crossing the Mississippi River on I-40 in Memphis. A large group of protestors were on the bridge blocking traffic in both directions,” the letter says. “Multiple law enforcement agencies, including the Tennessee Highway Patrol, also made the scene. The incident was eventually cleared, and traffic was flowing in both directions by approximately 5pm. There is no doubt this was an orchestrated event for maximum impact and disruption because the only other bridge crossing the river was closed for repairs.”
Taylor said that up to two people were delayed in getting urgent medical care due to the traffic disruption, noting that he spoke with an Arkansas resident who was driving his wife to the VA hospital in Memphis, but was delayed for two hours thanks to the protestors.
“Additionally, there are social media accounts of someone being airlifted to a Memphis area hospital because traffic was blocked,” the letter says.
Taylor said that since nobody is arresting protestors who take over the streets, such disruptions continue unabated.
“The unlawful commandeering of Memphis bridges is becoming an all-too-common occurrence. These types of bridge closures add to the general feeling of lawlessness in Memphis,” he said. “We must have law and order! It is unacceptable that no arrests were made during this protest when such actions are already crimes under Tennessee law.”
He noted that the same bridge was taken over after the death of George Floyd and the death of Tyre Nichols, noting that “[n]o one in recent memory has ever been criminally charged with such an action.”
“Therefore, I am respectfully requesting the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation investigate this illegal protest to determine which individuals are responsible for this action and refer your findings to the appropriate office to be fully prosecuted,” the letter said. “Such an investigation and subsequent prosecution will serve as a deterrent to future illegal protests and help restore law and order to Memphis. Our great state cannot be successful if the chaos in Memphis continues!”
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Pete D’Abrosca is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow Pete on X / Twitter.
Image “Memphis Bridge Shutdown” by Memphis Voices for Palestine.
Way Past Time……..
this really boosts support for palestine, let me tell you
Time to start arresting and locking-up those breaking the law. Further, if indicated, deporting those protestors here illegally. It is one thing to exercise free speech, but it is something quite different when the protesting tramples on the rights of others.