The dust has settled in Atlanta after hundreds of protesters and police clashed on Monday, Nov. 13. Local and out-of-state activists marched to protest the construction of the $90 million fire and police training center outside of Atlanta that has been dubbed “Cop City.”
“Hey hey, ho ho, Cop City has got to go,” protesters chanted.
The clash is the latest event in a long-standing, two-year battle between activists and law enforcement in Atlanta over the training facility. In August, 61 people were indicted after earlier protests turned violent. Georgia’s attorney general called them “militant anarchists.”
Ahead of this week’s two-mile march, organizers laid out ground rules for participants. The goal, they said, was to keep the protest peaceful.
“We will not bring weapons, we will not bring alcohol or illegal drugs, we will not use incendiary devices or fire, and we will not destroy construction equipment, but we will stay together, and we will keep each other safe,” organizer Sam Beard said.
A short time after organizers spoke, protesters were face-to-face with a line of police officers dressed in riot gear.
A protester from Arizona told The Guardian that they, along with another activist, were confronted by police in a nearby supermarket parking lot. Officers reportedly accused them of inciting violence and being terrorists. The Arizonian told The Guardian that they were arrested and then released.
The Guardian also reports that police used “heavy-handed action” to control protesters, using flash-bang grenades, tear gas, and deploying tanks and snipers.
Following the clash, Atlanta Chief of Police Darin Schierbaum told reporters that law enforcement tried to negotiate a peaceful protest with organizers. Still, Schierbaum said, “those invitations were declined by the organizers.”
“We saw individuals doing things that we knew were indicative of professional protesters and anarchists, that they do prior to encountering police efforts to disburse an unruly crowd, a dangerous crowd,” Schierbaum said.
The chief added that law enforcement saw some people in the crowd had shields, make-shift weapons, bolt cutters, and some had on gas masks.
Protest organizers dispute law enforcement’s claim that they were looking for violence, adding that they merely wanted to occupy the construction site in a demonstration of civil disobedience. According to police, protestors did not make it to the site, and construction remains on track.
The Associated Press reported no arrests were made, and the only injuries suffered were irritation and vomiting, likely related to tear gas.
