Hundreds of protesters on Sunday breached the site of a proposed public safety training facility in southeast Atlanta, burning construction vehicles and setting off fireworks at police officers. The Atlanta Police Department said 23 people had been arrested and charged with domestic terrorism after throwing bricks, rocks and Molotov cocktails at officers stationed nearby.
The violent clashes occurred on the second day of what activists are calling a weeklong “mass mobilization” to protest the building of the Atlanta Public Safety Training Center, a planned 85-acre campus that has been branded “Cop City” by opponents who say the complex would propagate police militarization and harm the environment.
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“A group of violent agitators used the cover of a peaceful protest of the proposed Atlanta Public Safety Training Center to conduct a coordinated attack on construction equipment and police officers,” the police department said.
Surveillance footage from Atlanta Police captured construction equipment burning out of control at the site as protesters in black clothing went into the fenced construction area before squad cars and armed officers arrived. The protesters were seen throwing large rocks, bricks, molotov cocktails, and fireworks at police officers. No officers were hurt.
Police said they “exercised restraint and used nonlethal enforcement” to detain 35 people. Of those detained, 23 were arrested and have been charged with domestic terrorism by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, according to a Monday afternoon update. Only two of the individuals arrested are from Georgia; one is from Canada and another is from France.
Why Do Protesters Oppose the Facility?
Tensions over the proposed police training facility have escalated between law enforcement and protesters in recent months. Those opposed to the center began organizing against the complex shortly after the Atlanta City Council authorized it in 2021. Activists say the announcement came as a surprise to local residents and that the development process has been largely secretive, with limited input from those most directly impacted.
Environmental advocates want to preserve the wooded area, which spans more than 1,000 acres. The planned center, located in DeKalb County, is estimated to cost $90 million, funded mostly by the Atlanta Police Foundation, a nonprofit organization, as a way to offer better police training and to boost morale amid hiring and retention struggles. The city has said that it would replace trees cleared during construction, and protect more than 200 acres of land around the facility.
Other activists are concerned that the development of the training site will enable increased militarization of police forces in the area, which is 55% Black. Attention towards policing practices heightened in the wake of monthslong demonstrations against police brutality and racial injustice after the 2020 police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis, Minn.
Atlanta’s Democratic Mayor Andre Dickens, who is Black, said at a press conference in late January that the proposed training facility would help address much of the concerns about harmful policing practices. “Our training includes vital areas like de-escalation training techniques, mental health, community-oriented policing, crisis intervention training, as well as civil rights history education,” he said. “This training needs space, and that’s exactly what this training center is going to offer.”
Why Protests Turned Violent
Violent protests related to the proposed police training facility last erupted in Atlanta on Jan. 21, when a police vehicle was set on fire and windows were shattered in downtown buildings after the fatal police shooting of Manuel Esteban Paez Teran, a 26-year-old social justice activist who was protesting the proposed site. Police said he opened fire first, injuring a state trooper; activists have called for an independent investigation into the shooting.
Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, a Republican, declared a state of emergency on Jan. 26 and called for the mobilization of 1,000 National Guard troops amid simmering tensions over the training facility. Some arrested at the site were previously charged with domestic terrorism.
The planned demonstrations this weekend began peacefully on Saturday with a rally, a march through the South River Forest, and a music and arts festival.
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