Over 20 face terrorism charges in Atlanta ‘Cop City’ clash
ATLANTA — More than 20 people from around the country faced domestic terrorism charges Monday after dozens of young people in black masks attacked the site of a police training center under construction in a wooded area outside Atlanta where one protester was killed in January.
The area has become the flashpoint of ongoing conflict between authorities and left-leaning protesters.
Flaming bottles and rocks were thrown at officers during a protest Sunday at “Cop City,” where 26-year-old environmental activist Manuel Esteban Paez Terán, or “Tortuguita,” was shot to death by officers during a raid at a protest camp in January. Police said Tortuguita attacked them, a version other activists have questioned.
Almost all those of arrested are from around the U.S., while one is from Canada and another from France, police said.
Protesters who oppose what detractors call “Cop City” — a $90 million Atlanta Public Safety Training Center that intended to boost preparedness and morale after George Floyd’s death in
2020 — run the gamut from more traditional environmental environmentalists to young, self-styled anarchists seeking clashes with what they see as an unjust society.
Defend the Atlanta Forest, a social media site used by members of the movement, said Monday on Twitter that those arrested were not violent agitators “but peaceful concert goers who were nowhere near the demonstration.” A representative of a public-relations firm involved in the group’s events said it could not immediately comment.
After “Tortuguita” was killed, demonstrations spread to downtown Atlanta. A police cruiser was set ablaze, rocks were thrown and fireworks were launched at a skyscraper that houses the Atlanta Police Foundation. Windows were shattered. The governor declared a state of emergency.
On Sunday, Atlanta Police Chief Darin Schierbaum said at a midnight news conference, pieces of construction equipment were set on fire in what he called “a coordinated attack” at the site for the Atlanta Public Safety Training Center in DeKalb County.
Surveillance video released by police show a piece of heavy equipment in flames. It was among multiple pieces of construction gear that were destroyed, police said.
Protesters threw rocks, bricks, Molotov cocktails, and fireworks at police, officials said. Officers used nonlethal enforcement methods to disperse the crowd and make arrests, Schierbaum said, causing “some minor discomfort.”
Demonstrators tried to blind officers by shining green lasers into their eyes, and used tires and debris to block a road, the Georgia Department of Public Safety said Monday.
Along with classrooms and administrative buildings, the training center would include a shooting range, a driving course to practice chases and a “burn building” for firefighters to work on putting out fires. A “mock village” featuring a fake home, convenience store and nightclub would also be built for rehearsing raids.
Opponents have said the site will be used to practice “urban warfare.”