More protests expected Saturday across NY, NJ following release of body cam of video showing police beating Tyre Nichols

More protests are expected Saturday across New York and New Jersey following the release Friday of body cam video showing Memphis police officers brutally beating Tyre Nichols.

A rally was scheduled for 12 p.m. in Newark at the Lincoln statue located at 12 Springfield Ave.

In New York City, a justice ride was scheduled for 2:30 p.m. at Union Square, and a march at 5 p.m. at Washington Square Park.

Protesters gathered in Times Square and Union Square in Manhattan Friday night to express their outrage over the police killing of Nichols.

Protesters brought traffic to a standstill and could be heard chanting, “Say his name! Tyre Nichols!”

The NYPD is preparing for a possible weekend of protest across the city. A few arrests were made Friday night after protesters vandalized a police car.

Earlier in the day Friday, Mayor Eric Adams, a former member of the NYPD, had reiterated that while New Yorkers had a right to protest the decision, they needed to do so peacefully.

“I believe that New Yorkers should have the right to peacefully voice their concern if the video is what we anticipate it to be.”

“It is a personal and professional painful moment for me, as a victim of police abuse a child, I know the impact of it, and I know that the years I’ve spent recruiting and encouraging different groups to be part of the noble profession of policing,” Adams continued. “What it appears is that these officers tarnished much of the work that many of us attempted to accomplish.”

Protests had already been taking place in Times Square and in Union Square when the video was released just after 7 p.m. on Friday.

NYC protests over police killing of Tyre Nichols
Protesters gathered in parts of Manhattan on Friday night to express their outrage over the police killing of Tyre Nichols in Memphis.

Nichols died three days after a Jan. 7 confrontation with five police officers in Memphis, Tennessee, leaving his 4-year-old son without a father and his family without many answers.

Nichols’ family members and their lawyers said footage of the incident shows officers savagely beating the FedEx worker for three minutes in an assault that the legal team likened to the infamous 1991 police beating of Los Angeles motorist Rodney King.

The officers, all of whom are Black, were charged Thursday with murder and other crimes.

Memphis Police Director Cerelyn Davis described the officers’ actions as “heinous, reckless and inhumane,” and said Friday that her department has been unable to substantiate the reckless driving allegation that prompted the stop.

“As far as I know today, I do believe that the stop itself was very questionable,” she told ABC’s “Good Morning America.”

As a precaution, Memphis-area schools canceled all after-class activities and postponed an event scheduled for Saturday morning. Other early closures included the city power company’s community offices and the University of Memphis.

Nichols’ mother, RowVaughn Wells, warned supporters of the “horrific” nature of the video but pleaded for peaceful protests.

“I don’t want us burning up our city, tearing up the streets, because that’s not what my son stood for,” she said Thursday. “If you guys are here for me and Tyre, then you will protest peacefully.”

Davis also urged calm after the video’s release.

“None of this is a calling card for inciting violence or destruction on our community or against our citizens,” she said.