Confederate groups rally in Memphis after monuments' removal from parks

With Memphis police officers staged at various locations around the city Saturday, about 50 vehicles of Confederate monument supporters caravanned on 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, a separate, smaller group of about a dozen people led by white nationalist Billy Roper quietly demonstrated near 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.

Read more: http://www.commercialappeal.com/story/news/government/city/2018/01/06/memphis-confederate-statue-protest-removal/1004853001/