The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
As protests continue across region, Kemp promises to keep the peace
Governor: ‘We will not tolerate disruption or dangerous behavior.’
Atlanta headed into a fifth consecutive night of unrest Tuesday, as protesters blocked streets, armored military vehicles encircled the state Capitol and Gov. Brian Kemp vowed to quell violent demonstrations with “whatever is necessary.”
Crowds protesting police brutality and racial injustice gathered at Centennial Olympic Park, stopping traffic on Marietta Street before marching through midtown Atlanta. Police officers blocked ramps to the Downtown Connector as dusk — and a 9 p.m. curfew — neared.
On Peachtree Street, Atlanta’s most famous thoroughfare, protesters dropped to one knee outside the Fox Theatre and held a moment of silence to honor George Floyd, whose death at the hands of the Minneapolis police has sparked uprisings across the nation. Chanting “no justice, no peace,” hundreds of marchers spanned
all four lanes of the street.
“It hurts my heart that to get justice, we have to come out here and do this,” Debbie Williams said during the Atlanta protest. “I just wonder why they hate us so much. I don’t understand it.”
The Atlanta march remained peaceful through the early evening. An hour before the curfew went into effect, the National Guard formed a tight cordon of armored vehicles around the Capitol.
Hannah Riley, who attended the protest, said the detonation of a device — either a tear-gas canister or a flash grenade, protesters theorized — happened after demonstrators changed, “We are not armed.” Photos on social media showed a low-lying cloud of dark smoke wafting over protesters.
“It was traumatic,” protester Thema Swift said. “We were gathering peacefully. People were kneeling and chanting. We saw the officers put their gas masks on. We saw smoke. And we started running.”
Protests in Atlanta, Lawrenceville, Roswell and Peachtree City took place hours after prosecutors announced criminal charges against Atlanta police officers in connection with an incident near the downtown protests Saturday. The officers used force to detain two Atlanta college students who were trying to drive past the protests.
The charges did little to deter additional protests Tuesday, and authorities braced for a repeat of the looting and violence that engulfed parts of downtown and Buckhead over the weekend.
“We’re in a very precarious point right now,” Kemp said during a late afternoon news conference, as images of the crowd gathering downtown played on a video monitor over his shoulder. “Because you have one or two people who are going to cause an instance like you’ve seen in other states when somebody gets shot.”
Kemp has called up 3,000 National Guard troops to reinforce state and local law enforcement officers across the state. They will be on high alert Thursday in Brunswick, where preliminary hearings are planned for the three suspects accused in the February shooting death of 25-year-old Ahmaud Arbery. Arbery was African American; the suspects are white. Arbery’s death added to the anguish that drove many protesters to the streets after Floyd’s killing.
Saying he supports peaceful protests done “in the right way,” Kemp criticized protesters who have blocked streets and expressways.
“We have to have people follow the law,” he said. “When they don’t, that puts us in a bad spot.”
He claimed “bad actors” had infiltrated some demonstrations, instigating violence and looting, endangering police officers and National Guard troops.
“I am also outraged that these Georgians are now in harm’s way because some are using this moment to riot, loot and compromise the safety of our citizenry,” Kemp said. “We will do whatever is necessary to keep the peace. We will not tolerate disruption or dangerous behavior, including criminal conduct. If these people who are unruly out there think we will lay down and quit, you are in the wrong state.”
In the news conference, neither Kemp nor GBI Director Vic Reynolds offered evidence outsiders had led the violence over the weekend or their activities were coordinated.
Reynolds said agents are analyzing the approximately 300 arrests from Friday through Tuesday, but “we are convinced there are individuals here from various groups around the country, a lot of which are bent on destruction and violence.”
But most of Tuesday’s protests went off with no hint of lawlessness.
In Lawrenceville, Gwinnett County Commissioner Marlene Fosque addressed the demonstrators, urging them to vote and engage in local government.
Fosque, Gwinnett’s first black commissioner, had attended a protest Monday, speaking directly with many marchers.
“I was here last night because I support you,” Fosque told the crowd Tuesday. “Because I believe in you. And I don’t even know all of you, but I know you are our future. I am sick and tired of turning on the TV and seeing another black man killed. We need to know what we are working for and I need you to go vote. I work for you, yes, but only if you vote.”