Chanting "justice for Tyre" and "no justice, no peace," people in cities across the United States protested over the past weekend following the release of a video showing police in Memphis, Tennessee beating African-American man Tyre Nichols. 

The 29-year-old died from his injuries on January 10.

The Black man's death drew comparisons with the killing of George Floyd in May 2020 which was caused by police officers in Minneapolis.

Nichols' family attorney Ben Crump called on the U.S. Congress to pass the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, a police reform bill named after Floyd, and said President Joe Biden has a responsibility to renew his push for policing reform, The Hill reported.

"Every 28 hours in this country, a Black or Brown person is killed by a police officer or racist vigilance," a protester in New York said without citing a source. 

Demonstrations were held in many cities, including Memphis, Boston, Atlanta, New York, Washington and Los Angeles. At least three protesters were arrested in New York after clashes with police. Marches and rallies are expected to continue in cities across the country.

The five Black Memphis police officers involved in the young man's death were fired after an internal investigation found them "directly responsible" for the beating. They were charged with murder, kidnapping, assault and other charges last week.

Tyre's death has reignited debate about police culture in the U.S. and led to renewed calls for efforts to pass nationwide standards for use of force by police.

"There are many officers who interact very well in our communities, but there are some officers who don't have the cultural competence or emotional maturity to interact with our residents in a respectful, dignified manner. We want all those officers to be in notice that there's no tolerance of it," said Paul Young, president of Downtown Memphis Commission.

More people were killed by police in the U.S. in 2022 than any other year in the past decade, according to Mapping Police Violence, an organization that publishes up-to-date data on police violence in America. Officers were charged with a crime in only nine of these cases, accounting for 1 percent of all killings by police.

Among the 1,192 people killed by police in the U.S. in 2022, 26 percent were African Americans, who make up only 12 percent of the U.S. population, based on data from the organization's 2022 police violence report. Data from 2013 to 2022 show that Black people are 2.9 times more likely to be killed than white people in the country.

Diao Daming, an associate professor of international studies at Renmin University of China, said such statistics show long-term systematic discrimination against ethnic minorities in the U.S.

Cases of police officers using excessive force on Black people in the U.S. over the years have revived scrutiny of race relations.

"It didn't get any better after Floyd's case," said Diao. "The situation of ethnic minorities in the U.S., including African Americans, has been deteriorating in the past few years, due to pressures such as the COVID-19 epidemic and economic inflation in the country."

Diao pointed out that though it is possible that this case will lead to a wider national protest, it cannot solve the underlying problems.

"It is bound to intensify the frustration and distrust of Americans in the U.S. government, adding to the tear in American society," Diao said.

"It gave me chills because I have a young son myself, and just to know it happened literally five minutes from my house just brought tears to my eyes," a resident in Memphis told China Media Group.