Protests erupt in downtown Atlanta over controversial ‘Cop City’ and the fatal police shooting of activist | CNN

CNN
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Several people were arrested Saturday evening in downtown Atlanta during protests that came in response to a proposed police training facility and the fatal police shooting of an activist earlier in the week.

Atlanta Police Sgt. Jarius Daugherty told CNN “several arrests” were made after the demonstrations led to property damage, but did not provide an exact number of the people arrested or what property was damaged.

Social media footage showed a police cruiser on fire in the downtown area, and video from CNN affiliate WANF showed broken windows at a Wells Fargo bank.

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp said on Twitter “violence and unlawful destruction of property are not acts of protest. They are crimes that will not be tolerated in Georgia and will be prosecuted fully.”

The protests come in response to a planned $90 million, 85-acre law enforcement training facility – dubbed “Cop City” by its opponents – and just days after the police killing of a 26-year-old activist near the site of the training center.

The shooting unfolded Wednesday morning, during what authorities said was a clearing operation to remove people from the site of the future facility. Opponents of the center have camped out in the area for months in an attempt to halt construction.

The Georgia Bureau of Investigation said law enforcement officers spotted an individual in a tent in the woods and gave verbal commands, but the individual allegedly did not comply and shot a Georgia State Patrol Trooper, according to a news release.

Officers returned fire and fatally wounded the individual, who died at the scene. A handgun recovered from the individual’s possession matched the projectile from the trooper’s wound, the GBI said.

The person killed was identified as Manuel Esteban Paez Teran.

Activists associated with movements protesting the facility, who dispute law enforcement’s account, said Teran was a “forest defender” working to fight environmental racism. Local justice groups said Teran, known as Tortuguita, was a “sweet, warm, very smart and caring” person.

The injured trooper was taken to a local hospital for surgery and was in stable condition Wednesday night, authorities said. The Georgia Department of Public Safety said it will not release the trooper’s name because “disclosure would compromise security against criminal or terroristic acts due to retaliation.”

Additionally, the GBI said that during its clearing operation, it found and removed about 25 campsites and arrested and charged seven people with domestic terrorism and criminal trespass. Authorities recovered “mortar style fireworks, multiple edged weapons, pellet rifles, gas masks and a blow torch,” it added.