Biden urges ‘law and order’ in Tyre Nichols protests

WASHINGTON — President Biden said Friday evening that people protesting after the release of video showing Memphis police fatally beating Tyre Nichols should respect “law and order” because the “image of America” is at stake.

“What’s at stake is, first of all, innocent people’s lives, number one. And number two, it has a lot to say and do with the image of America,” Biden said as he departed the White House for a two-night stay at Camp David in Maryland.

“It has a lot to do with whether or not we are the country we say we are. That we’re a country of law and order and means by which we can peacefully protest and let the courts make the judgment.”

Biden made the comment just over an hour before the widely anticipated release of body camera footage showing Nichols, 29, being beaten by police officers on Jan. 7 following a traffic stop. He died three days later.

Biden called Nichols’ family earlier Friday ahead of the release of the video.

Five fired Memphis cops were charged Thursday with second-degree murder, aggravated assault, aggravated kidnapping, official misconduct and official oppression. Nichols and all five of the officers are African-American.

Biden left town as protesters prepared to converge north of the White House in an area that was the epicenter of protests and riots following the May 2020 murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police.

Those riots featured widespread looting and fighting between Secret Service officers and protesters, as well as arson of many downtown buildings and attacks on the AFL-CIO and Teamsters union buildings for their association with law enforcement.

Biden, 80, built a tough-on-crime reputation as a senator in the 1980s and ’90s, drawing condemnation for allegedly contributing to racial inequality. He was also criticized by Republicans in 2020 for not doing more to discourage violence in the aftermath of Floyd’s death.