On Monday 23 protesters, which included a Canadian and a Frenchman, were charged with domestic terrorism in the US state of Georgia after forcefully entering a police training centre and throwing bricks and Molotov cocktails at officers.
As per the police, a co-ordinated attack was launched by “violent agitators” against officers and the construction equipment was burned at the Atlanta facility’s site which has been nicknamed by opponents as “Cop City”.
The training centre, which has been constructed on 85 acres (34 hectares) of South River Forest’s land in DeKalb County, has always been fiercely opposed since officials tabled their proposal in 2021, as tensions over the proposed plans continue to rise.
“This wasn’t about a public safety training centre, this was about anarchy, and this was about the attempt to destabilise,” said Atlanta police chief Darin Schierbaum, in a late-night press conference.
As per the police statement, 35 people were detained and 23 of them were “charged with domestic terrorism”. The security video released by the facility showed protesters gathering at a fence, dressed in black, and throwing explosive devices and rocks towards the police, who struggled to lock the gate.
Schierbaum said that no officers suffered injuries in the incident.
“When you throw commercial-grade fireworks, when you throw Molotov cocktails… at officers, your only intent is to harm. This is not a protest. This is criminal activity,” he said.
Police in Georgia’s capital Atlanta, in a statement, said that “the agitators destroyed multiple pieces of construction equipment by fire and vandalism.”
WATCH | U.S. is among the worst countries for racial equality
Opponents have stated that the site is important for the city’s green space and call it the “lungs of Atlanta”. “We call on all people of good conscience to stand in solidarity with the movement to stop Cop City and defend the Weelaunee Forest,” the Defend The Atlanta Forest website, in its statement, said.
More protests were expected in the week ahead. Of the people charged with terrorism by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI), two are foreign nationals, while only two of them are listed as Georgia residents, as per the police statement.
The rest of the arrested protesters were from Arizona, Massachusetts and New York.
(With inputs from agencies)
You can now write for wionews.com and be a part of the community. Share your stories and opinions with us here.
