Stop Cop City

Stop Cop City
Part of Black Lives Matter and the climate movement
Stop Cop City graffiti along the Proctor Creek Greenway Trail
Location
Cop City, South River Forest, DeKalb County, Georgia

33°41′38″N 84°20′10″W / 33.69383°N 84.33606°W / 33.69383; -84.33606
Parties
Coalition of environmental organizations, social justice organizations, community groups, and autonomous forest defenders
Lead figures

non-centralized leadership

Casualties and losses
1 Georgia State Trooper injured (Gunshot)
Map

Stop Cop City (SCC), also known as Block Cop City and Defend the Atlanta Forest (DTF), is a decentralized movement in Atlanta, Georgia, United States, whose goal is to stop construction of the Atlanta Public Safety Training Center by the Atlanta Police Foundation and the City of Atlanta. The proposed location for the facility is the Old Atlanta Prison Farm, and opponents of the facility are concerned about the growth of policing in the city—which has witnessed several protests against police violence following the 2020 murder of George Floyd and the killing of Rayshard Brooks,[1] both by police officers.[2][3]

Proponents of the training facility say that the project is necessary to improve police morale and to fight crime. They have said that there is no feasible alternative location for the training center and that the Old Atlanta Prison Farm is "not a forest".[3] Critics of the training facility state that the center will increase militarization of police and that destruction of the forest will exacerbate economic disparities and ecological collapse in a poor-majority Black neighborhood.[4] On January 18, 2023, Georgia State Patrol Officers shot and killed Manuel Esteban Paez Terán during a raid on the occupied encampment.

Background

In 2020, as part of the Black Lives Matter movement and nationwide response to the murder of George Floyd, Atlanta witnessed a months-long series of protests against police brutality.[2][5][6] Less than three weeks after Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin murdered Floyd on a public street, an Atlanta police (APD) officer shot and killed Atlanta resident Rayshard Brooks, which resulted in protests, arson,[7] national outcry, and calls to defund the police.[2]

Criticism of police and associated unrest has reduced police morale.[5] Authorities claim that the city has struggled with rising crime, citing 149 homicides in 2021: the most in a single year since the 1990s.[3] However, the city's crime compilation data shows a drop in overall crime rates and a mixed trend in homicides over the period from 2009 to the present.[8] Advocates for the proposed training facility have said that the project is an attempt to address these problems.[3][5]

The $90 million proposed training center would include a shooting range and a mock village that has led the project to be nicknamed "Cop City." The city is expected to pay one-third of the cost, with the Atlanta Police Foundation (APF) paying the rest.[3] Plans for the 85-acre (34 ha) facility were announced in 2017 [citation needed]. According to the APF, the project provides "the necessary facilities required to effectively train 21st-century law enforcement agencies responsible for public safety in a major urban city."[9]

Cox Enterprises is a corporate investor in the training facility and owns the city's major daily newspaper, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution,[5] which has published multiple editorials in favor of the project.[3]

Prison farm

See also: Old Atlanta Prison Farm

The facility's proposed location is the Old Atlanta Prison Farm (OPF). A 2021 study by the Atlanta Community Press Collective—a self-described "abolitionist media" group—called the location a site of "atrocities of the past."[10][2][11] An earlier study in 1999 did not mention historical atrocities, but did recommend that the area be preserved and placed on the National Register of Historic Places. Opponents of the project have objected to placing the police facility on the site of historic human rights violations.[2][11] Environmental justice advocates and organizations have proposed that the OPF should remain a centerpiece in the 3,500-acre (14 km2) urban green space called the South River Forest.,[3][5] citing Atlanta's "massive disparities" in green space: areas with higher percentages of African-American residents–including the area surrounding the OPF–have fewer and smaller parks.[5]

Timeline

Stop Cop City protests in Atlanta in January 22, 2023

The APF training facility is opposed by a coalition of environmental groups, neighborhood associations, local schools,[12] and racial justice groups.[13] Plans were approved by the city in September 2021 after 17 hours of public comment from over 1,100 residents, 70% of whom opposed the project.[3] Residents have expressed concern that the approval process was secretive with limited input from affected communities.[5] The city appointed a community-advisory committee, and in 2022 Atlanta mayor Andre Dickens said that there was "a lot of room for input."[3] The advisory committee does not include representatives from environmental groups, but does include representatives from the police and fire departments and the Dickens administration.[3] A vocal critic of the facility was removed from the advisory committee.[3]

Residents who support the construction of the training facility have said that they want a properly trained police force and hope the project would improve the quality of the Atlanta police force to make their communities safer.[5]

DTF supporters have led divestment movements against APF corporate sponsors funding the APF, and four "week of action" campaigns in 2021–22 featured live music, supply drives, skill shares, and history lessons about the area.[14] Dozens of local community groups and regional organizations have opposed the project.[15][16][17]

Two environmental organizations, the South River Forest Coalition and the South River Watershed Alliance, have filed a lawsuit against the film studio development.[3]

Forest defense actions

A tree sit to prevent cutting of trees at the Old Atlanta Prison Farm

Beginning in late 2021, the contested forest was occupied by self-described forest defenders who barricaded the area and constructed tree-sits to prevent trees from being cut. Forest defenders had several conflicts with police, resulting in some arrests. They have also destroyed equipment being used by developers in the forest, vandalized property belonging to corporations connected with the APF and Blackhall studios, and committed arson.[3] In May 2022 the corporate offices of Brasfield & Gorrie in Birmingham, Alabama were vandalized, and the message "Drop Cop City Or Else" was spray-painted on the building.[18]

There is wide variation in the political stance and approach of DTF forest defenders,[18] and several sources describe the movement as leaderless and autonomous, with any participant able to act as they wish.[13][19][20] Prison abolition is a strongly represented political philosophy among opponents.[2][6]

On December 13, 2022, a task force of multiple police agencies conducted a joint raid at the training facility site.[21] Five people were arrested and charged with domestic terrorism.[22] The Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) stated that road flares, gasoline, and explosive devices were found in the area;[21] when reporters asked police whether the explosive devices were fireworks or something more dangerous, the police declined to answer.[23]

Fatal shooting by police

Main article: Killing of Tortuguita

On January 18, 2023, Georgia State Troopers and other agencies launched another raid. During the raid a trooper was shot in the leg, and a protester, Manuel Terán, known also as "Tortuguita", was shot and killed by police.[24] Police stated that Terán fired on them without warning.[25] Multiple groups, including other protestors, two independent journalists who had previously interviewed Terán, and Terán's family, have questioned whether Terán fired first, pointing to the lack of body camera footage of the shooting and calling for an independent investigation.[25][26][27][28] GBI conducted a forensic ballistic analysis which determined that the projectile recovered from the officer's wound matched the handgun found in Terán's possession.[29] The GBI said that there is no body camera footage of the shooting because officers near the incident did not have cameras. Georgia State Patrol officers do not wear body-cameras.[30] However, there is footage of the aftermath; officers from other agencies were present and would have captured that video.[30] The recovered handgun was determined to be purchased legally by Terán in September 2020.[31] Other protesters and Terán's family dispute that Terán fired a gun.[25]

On February 9, 2023, the Atlanta police released body camera footage of the aftermath of the shooting wherein an officer is heard saying "You fucked your own officer up." This led some to believe that the injured officer had not been shot by Terán, but by friendly fire from another officer.[32][33]

In March, Terán's family released the results of an independent autopsy revealing that Terán was shot fourteen times while sitting cross-legged on the ground with their hands raised in the air.[34][35]

January 2023 protests

Stop Cop City protests in Atlanta on January 22, 2023

On January 21, 2023, protesters marched from Underground Atlanta down Peachtree Street. At the intersection with Ellis St, some protesters damaged institutions who support the facility and burned an Atlanta Police Department vehicle. Six arrests were made. Responding to condemnation of these acts, Stop Cop City issued a statement asserting that "Destruction of material is fundamentally different from violence. All reported acts appear to be explicitly targeted against the financial backers".[36]

Vigils and protests were also held in other cities, such as Bridgeport, Minneapolis, Nashville, Philadelphia, and Tucson, from January 20 to 22, 2023.[37] Some demonstrators spray painted graffiti on Bank of America buildings to protest the company's involvement in financing the facility's construction.[37]

March 2023 protests

A protest was held at the facility construction site on March 5, 2023. Several demonstrators threw rocks and firebombs, resulting in the destruction of several pieces of construction equipment. Police subsequently raided the nearby South River Music Festival and detained 35 people, of which 12 were released and the remaining 23 were charged with domestic terrorism.[38] Festival attendees have accused police of selectively charging protestors from out of state, while releasing Georgia residents, in order to further the narrative that "outside agitators" coordinated and controlled the protests.[citation needed]

The arrest warrant for the festival attendees stated that domestic terrorism charges were brought against those based on probable cause, such as having had mud on their feet, and that those with legal aid phone numbers written on their bodies were considered suspicious. According to The Intercept, there is no information contained in the warrants that directly connects any of the defendants to illegal actions.[39][40] Atlanta police chief Darin Schierbaum refused to comment when confronted by journalists about this allegation.[41]

In May 2023, three activists were arrested and charged with felony intimidation of a police officer and misdemeanor stalking, with penalties up to 20 years in prison, for posting fliers and identifying the officer that shot Manuel Terán.[42] That same month, three more activists were arrested and charged with charity fraud and money laundering for organizing a legal bail fund.[43] Regarding the arrests, Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr pledged to “not rest until we have held accountable every person who has funded, organized, or participated in this violence and intimidation” regarding the protests.[44]

2024 protests

In April 2024, students at Emory University organized a protest on the university lawn against Cop City and the university's ties to Israel.[45] A statement from protest organizers accused the university of being “complicit in genocide and police militarization” and called for "total institutional divestment from Israeli apartheid and Cop City at all Atlanta colleges and universities."[46][47] The protests were peaceful until Georgia State Patrol, Atlanta Police and University Police forcefully dispersed the protests.[46][48] Law enforcement used tear gas, rubber bullets, and tasers during the crackdown.[49] 28 people were arrested, including the university's philosophy department chair Noëlle McAfee.[45]

Issues and themes

In September 2022, the APF reported that it projected opening the first phase of the facility in late 2023. DTF estimated that it had delayed the project by at least a month and a half.[14]

Domestic terrorism charges

Following the arrests in December when protestors were charged with domestic terrorism, additional protestors arrested in January were also charged with terrorism resulting in a total of 20 people facing these charges.[50] On March 6, 2023, it was reported that 23 people who had thrown large rocks, bricks, Molotov cocktails, and fireworks at police, as well having set buildings and equipment on fire, had been charged with domestic terrorism. Only two of them were from Atlanta. One was from France, and one was from Canada.[51][52][53][54]

This is the first time that state law has been used in this way. Legal scholars, protest groups, and state and local governments are interested in the precedents that this will set for handling similar cases in the future. Supporters of this approach say that it will deter criminal behavior, while critics say that it is overreach and could stifle legitimate protest.[55]

In March 2023, several human rights groups co-signed a letter which said that "application of the domestic terrorism statute" against 19 of the 35 arrested March 2023 protestors "is an escalatory intimidation tactic and a draconian step that seems intended to chill First Amendment protected activity". The groups that signed the letter included Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, the National Lawyers Guild, and the Center for Constitutional Rights.[56]

In September 2023, 61 people were indicted under the Georgia RICO (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations) Act for involvement in the protests.[57]

Responses

In spring 2023, dozens of students and faculty from Georgia State University, Emory University, Agnes Scott College, Morehouse College, Spelman College and other Atlanta area colleges and universities petitioned their institutions to officially denounce the training center.[12][58]

On April 25, 2023, Emory University students gathered on the Atlanta Campus quad and pitched tents as an act of protest to urge university leadership to denounce the building of the training center.[59] Students were also asking that Emory University President Greg Fenves step down from his role as a member of the Atlanta Committee for Progress (ACP), which plays a role in the building of the project.[60] The protest ultimately came to an end when Emory Police arrived on the Quad and asked students to leave the Quad, informing them that those who remained would face arrest.[59]

As of December 31, 2023, there has been no official denouncement of the training center from any Atlanta area college or university.

In 2023, Christopher M. Carr, the Georgia Attorney General, has defended domestic terrorism charges that have been brought against protestors allegedly breaking the law.[61]

Dropped charges

In September 2024, Georgia prosecutors dropped all fifteen charges of money laundering against three Atlanta bail fund organizers.[62] The three individuals were indicted alongside 58 others after helping to organize the Atlanta Solidarity Fund, a provider of bail money for protestors taken into custody.

See also

References

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