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With Memphis police officers staged at various locations around the city Saturday, about 50 vehiclesof Confederate monument supporterscaravannedon the Interstate 240 loop in a demonstration against the removal of Confederate monuments.
As the "rolling rally," organized by the Facebook group Confederate 901, circled the interstate, aseparate, smaller group of about a dozen people led by white nationalist Billy Roper quietly demonstratednear Health Sciences park where a statue of Confederate Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest was removed recently.
3:15 p.m.The City of Memphis said in an update that the current status is "no protesters remain at Health Sciences Park and the demonstration on Interstate 240 has dispersed. We will continue to monitor the areas."
2:20 p.m. After driving around Memphis for about 2 hours, the caravan came to a halt at the Fillin Station Grille in Southaven, Mississippi, where more than 50 people — many in camouflage and body armor — whooped rebel yells surrounded by an assortment of Confederate flags.
After a benediction from chaplain Michael Sims of Bartlett,Confederate 901 organizer Billy Sessions said the group intentionally and successfully avoided generating "a lot of bad PR" like inCharlottesville, Virginia, where white nationalists and counter-protesters there clashed and one was killed in an act of domestic terrorism. Sessions, who said he is from West Arkansas,also thanked Memphis Police for their escort and "warm welcome."
"We wanted this to be a positive," Sessions, 41, said of the rally.
The group discussed — but decided against — making one last run, this time through downtown to Health Sciences Park.
"We the people stood up," said James Del Brock, who said he was 45 and from Arkansas. "We made a statement."
2 p.m.Outside the metal barricades at Health Sciences Park, a few counter-protestors lingered after the separate small group of white nationalists led by Billy Roperleft. One helda sign that read, “Irony, y’all want us to get over slavery, but y’all not over the Civil War!”
Jennifer Cain, a black woman who lives in Memphis, made the sign and said she came to the park, in part, to see how police responded to the protesters.
“I wish we had this kind of presence when the police kill us,” Cain said.
John Harris, a black man from Memphis, came to the park around 11:30 a.m. and said he was shocked to see the level of police presence.
“‘Expensive’ is the word that comes to mind,” he said.
Harris said that one of the Confederate supporters arrived wearing a bullet proof vest but had to remove it before he could go into the demonstration area that had been set up.But the extra security didn’t make him feel much safer, he said.
When Harris arrived around 11:30 a.m., he said he was walking toward the barricade and was confronted by a police officer who he said asked him to take his hands out of his pockets.
“I told her I was cold and she reached for her gun, Harris said.
1:55 p.m.Several peoplewho have been present at Black Lives Matter demonstrations in Memphisin the past arrived through the securitycheckpoint at Health Sciences Park where thegroup led by white nationalist Billy Roper was standing. Shortly after, Roper's group started walking toward their cars trailed by police. The two sides did not appear toexchange words.
1 p.m. About a dozen law enforcement officers stood on the sidewalk or sat in vans along East Street just off of Union Avenue waiting to be utilized if needed. Some were dressed in heavy protective gear, including helmets with plastic face coverings.
12:45 p.m. The Twitter account for the City of Memphis estimates that a caravan of about 50 vehicles are driving the I-240 loop and another 20 demonstrators have gather at Health Sciences Park.
12:35 p.m.On the Memphis police scanner, dispatchers toldofficers to position vehicles at exits along Interstate 240. Officers expressed concern protesters may try to shut down the highway.
“Just stand by” in case they are needed to respond to a blocked roadway, officers were told.
12:30 p.m.About 10 cars with Confederate flags waving were spotted atI-240 and Madison. They appeared to have a police escort.
12:20p.m.Democratic activist and Shelby County Commission candidate Charlie Belenky organized a counter-protest at City Hall, but only one other person showed up. They ended up tossing around a frisbee.
"I think the people who said they were coming did not meet the expectations they themselves created," Belenky said."My feelings about that are, it's better to plan for a big party and make too much food than to have a bunch of people show up and not be ready for them."
He said he wasn't disappointed no one showed up."There's hardly anything to demonstrate against."
12:15 p.m.A small group of about a dozen protesters with white nationalist Billy Roper was taken through a checkpoint and waived with metal detector wands. They were told by law enforcement that no shields were allowed and Roper removed a vest.
The groupwalked from Orleans and Madison then past Sun Studio and to Union Avenue before approaching the park where the Forrest statue was taken down. Roper said the city government's"illegal acts taken in darkness will not be given a pass."
They held a red and white sign that read"diversity'= white genocide."
12 noon There were plenty of police, but no demonstrators were presentat Health Sciences Park or Fourth Bluff Park where Confederate monuments were removed last month.
11:30 a.m.Memphis police have closed part of Union Avenue and other streets around Health Sciences park where the statue of Confederate Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest was removed. Officers apparentlyare setting up a demonstration area on Union.
11:25 a.m. Confederate 901 announced their route on their Facebook page. Theywill caravan on Interstate 240 loop for 2 to 2.5 hours with final stop at the Fillin Station Grille in Southaven.
Confederate 901 organizers said they don't advise going downtown, but noted that they can't stop people from doing so.
11:10 a.m.Memphis police director Michael Rallings held a short media briefing from the Real Time Crime Center. "I want to send a very strong message that we are prepared," he said.
He added, "We anticipate a peaceful day."
11 a.m.Confederate 901 went live on Facebook with a prayer asking for safety.
“We’re getting ready to do our thing shortly,” an organizer, Billy Sessions, said.
They said they would broadcast live throughout the day.
10:20 a.m. A group of at least 14 people left the Bartlett Walmart parking lot after reading the Nathan Bedford Forreststatue dedicatory prayer.
Michael Sims, a Bartlett security consultant, showed up at the Bartlett Walmart staging point dressed in his gray Confederate reenactment uniform. A reenactor for almost 40 yeasr, Sims saidthe "non-racial" rally was about preserving "heritage and history." He said that Forrest was a champion for civil rights in his later life and that he founded the precursor to the Ku Klux Klan to protect all races from the excesses of the "carpetbaggers."
"We're not here to put anybody down — except maybe the City Council and mayor," he said.
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"There's going to be a lot of people involved in this ride," a Confederate 901 organizer, Billy Sessions, said in aFacebook video. "A lot of people. We'vegot many different staging places because there's going to be so many ... We'll fly those flags Saturday."
The rally comes more than two weeks after Memphis soldthe parks on Dec. 20 to nonprofit Memphis Greenspace Inc. The nonprofit, which is headed by Shelby County Commissioner Van Turner, quickly removed the controversial statues of Confederate Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest from Health Sciences and of Confederate President Jefferson Davis and Capt. J. Harvey Mathes from Fourth Bluff.
The parks where the statues of Davis and Forrest weretaken down were cordoned off Saturday morning and signs were posted warning, "No trespassing" and "No weapons."
Over the past week, city officials and the local Sons of Confederate Veterans asked people to stay away from the protest. The Memphis Branch of the NAACP on Friday also urged Memphians and Shelby County residents to ignore the demonstration and not give the Confederate demonstrators an audience.
"Boycott racism and hate by boycotting the Confederate 901 rally and caravan," said Memphis Branch NAACP President Deidre Malone.
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Online, the Confederate 901 group disavowed "any and all hate groups and their ideologies."
"This is a peaceful protest to hold the city accountable for the crimes they committed on Dec. 20th 2017, and to defend the honor of NBF (Nathan Bedford Forrest)!!" the group said in a Facebook post. "If you are planning to come to cause trouble we don’t want you there! Period!"
TakeEmDown901, a citizen-led grassroots campaign that pushed for removal of the monuments, called for a day of community service as an alternative to counterprotesting.
The Memphis Police Department"is prepared to maintain peace and secure public safety" — possibly by closing some roads, spokeswoman Karen Rudolph said in a prepared statement Friday.
"We are not anticipating any acts of violence and expect everyone to act in a lawful manner; however, all citizens should be aware that there will be a strong presence of police, and traffic delays may be experienced in the downtown area throughout the day on Saturday," she said.
The Hiwaymen— a "Three Percenter"group that wasat the Charlottesville, Virginia"Unite the Right" eventlast year — plan to be there, as could the Carolina Defenders, which represents themselves as a pro-Confederate militia, said Carla Hill, investigative researcher with the Anti-Defamation League's Center on Extremism.
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Hill said the only white supremacist organizing to come to Memphis on Saturday wasBilly Roper of the ShieldWall Network. On his blog, Roper, of Arkansas,advertises a "Rally For Forrest"and he promoted the event on Radio Aryan.
Roper, who describes himself as a white nationalist, said he is coming to provide leadership, make sure the Confederate demonstrators are not "illegally attacked by anti-white counterprotesters" and to ensure demonstrators know how to cooperate with law enforcement.
"I am a person who is an activist for his own people," Roper said.
Asked via Facebook if Confederate 901 was working with Roper, Confederate 901 adamantly said no. Roper also confirmed he is not part of Confederate 901.
Roper's blog includes postsusing a racial slur about Turner and state Reps.Joe Towns and G.A. Hardaway, as well as a posttargeting Memphis Mayor JimStrickland andhis family.
Roper posted that a group fromVirginia is traveling in, along with several people from Alabama and elsewhere.
"January 6th will be anEpiphany," according to Roper's blog, a reference to the Christian festival that coincides with the protest Saturday.
Three people from Tennessee who organized a tinypro-Robert E. Lee rally in Virginia and were run out of town also plan to attend the Confederate 901 rally, Hill said.
The planned demonstrationfollows other protests in other cities last year, including New Orleans.
This story will be updated.
