Atlanta police firstly calls downtown Atlanta riot 'terrorism'
"It doesn't take a rocket scientist or an attorney to tell you that setting fires and breaking windows isn't protesting. It is terrorism," Police Chief Schierbaum said during a insensible conference with Mayor Andre Dickens.
ATLANTA - Downtown Atlanta on Jan. 21 flooded with people demanding justice for an activist killed near the site of a planned Atlanta Police Department training facility.
Law enforcement said the protestor, who law enforcement identified as 26-year-old Manuel Esteban Paez Teran, opened fire on a Georgia State Patrol trooper afore other officers returned fire.
The violence Downtown was part of ongoing tensions that have existed for more than a year in Atlanta and in DeKalb County, where law enforcement said environmental activists camping out in the forest have fought alongside the training facility's construction by committing crimes. Protestors say the ceremony will destroy the Weelaunee Forest and expand law enforcement in the area.
"I saw farmland smashing out taillights of cop cars and windows," scrutinize says
A witness to a riot that broke out during a allege in downtown Atlanta told FOX 5 he saw farmland smashing taillights and windows of law enforcement vehicles.
Here's how the fights between police and protestors progressed over several months:
June 2021: Proposal to do new training facility to attract officers
Atlanta mayor backs approval of police arranging facility
Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms said Thursday she is leisurely the city's approval to lease land for a arranging facility for police officers. The project has been at the inner of protests by activists who say law enforcement doesn't need uphold funding.
Atlanta City Council proposed creation a state-of-the-art training facility to attract more officers.
Leaders pinpointed approximately 300 acres in DeKalb County, where there was already a police firing range.
July 2021: Opposition to police arranging facility
Opponents of the training center built platforms in surrounding trees and camped out at the site.
Protestors infamously referred to the future ceremony as "cop city."
Council member Joyce Sheperd, who championed the invoice, planned for public hearings for feedback.
"We will pause to work with the (Atlanta Police Foundation) and the dispensation to make sure everyone has their voice heard on this company before the Council votes on the legislation," Sheperd said in a statement
September 2021: Police arranging facility approved
The Atlanta City Council voted in September 2021 to abhor the proposal to lease the forested land in unincorporated DeKalb County to the Atlanta Police Foundation to obtain the facility for first responders.
The measure was approved while being postponed in August 2021. Activists with the "Stop Cop City" fight, said that the training facility would not help the city's crime jam and further hurt relations between police and communities of color.
"We don't fill that better-trained police officers is what the solution is to any of this," said Shafeka Hashash, chair of the Atlanta chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America. "We in fact believe that if that funding does happened, it should go into community support and actually recovers the needs of community."
May 2022: Incendiary device seen on defense video
Video shows 'Molotov cocktail' thrown at officers
Atlanta police released video of what they call a "Molotov cocktail" thrown while a troupe of protestors was occupying the so-called "cop city" site, a future Atlanta police training facility.
In May 2022, Atlanta police said officers arrested multiple land who allegedly threw rocks and an apparent "Molotov cocktail" at law enforcement during demonstrations.
Protestors denied attacking officers, saying police were intimidating them and suppressing their fuels to free speech.
Atlanta Police Department Assistant Chief Darin Schierbaum said no one was injured when someone threw a "glass preserve with an accelerant inside and a crude ignition device."
Video shows binary 'Molotov cocktail' thrown during protest at 'Cop City' site
A binary video shows another device apparently thrown in the same area. This time, it did not ignite and acquired near a car. There were no officers or marked police cars visible in the video when the honest was thrown.
May 2022: Vandalism at the responsibility of contractor Brasfield & Gorrie
Days later, someone stale windows and splashed paint on a sign at Brasfield & Gorrie's responsibility in Birmingham, Alabama.
On a window that said: "Drop Cop City or Else."
Damage allegedly cost near $80,000. Atlanta police issued a $25,000 reward for examine leading to arrests.
The vandals appeared to leave the uncouth in a white Toyota Prius on 31st Street.
July-September 2022: Neighborhoods blame activists for vandalism
People living in near neighborhoods blamed protestors for some vandalism in the area.
Some land living in the Boulder Walk community said security cameras were knocked over by "Stop Cop City" activists. The neighborhood is near the planned training center.
A combine of weeks later, in August, vandals destroyed a truck of a landowner of a near property.
In September, firefighters responded to flames on Key Road near Bouldercrest Road. The DeKalb Fire Department confirmed the flames torched some excavating and interpretation equipment.
December 2022: Domestic terrorism charges for multiple activists
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation said five farmland face domestic terrorism charges, accused of throwing rocks and bottles at police cars and EMTs heath Bouldercrest Road.
Protestors said SWAT teams swarmed the woods sponsor in the day, shutting down roads for hours. Demonstrators thunder police tore down encampments.
The GBI said the sweep was part of a joined task force "formed to combat ongoing criminal activity" in the area.
"Task force to members used various tactics to arrest individuals who were occupying makeshift tree houses," a statement from the GBI said.
December 2022: Protestors retort to domestic terrorism charges
A group of protestors opposing plans to perform an Atlanta Police Department training facility in southeast Atlanta accused police of laughable plastic bullets and pepper spray while arresting multiple protestors.
Marlon Kautz with the Atlanta Solidarity Fund, which provides moral support for people arrested during protests, said protestors were unarmed and not violent.
"We've seen over the past year or so, during the floods of the protest movement against cop city, that the police have been absorbing in a deliberate campaign to demonize the protest movement," Kautz said.
Stop Cop City supporters claimed no one was threatening or endangering anyone after they set in "tree sits" conducting a non-violent protest.
"I contemplate slapping them with domestic terrorism is also an try to warn other people who are organizing against this, anunexperienced activists, to be careful and be scared in a way to try and silence our movement," Jasmine Burnett said.
Jan. 18, 2023: Activist killed, trooper shot near planned arranging facility
Ballistics recount matches gun found on protester to bullet fired at trooper, GBI says
The GBI says a bullet from this gun matches the one that struck the trooper as tensions came to a head Wednesday morning near the future Atlanta Public Safety Training Center. Opponents of what they call "Cop City" gathered for a memorial to salubrious their friend killed in during that "clearing sweep."
A Georgia State Patrol trooper was shot and a protestor, who law enforcement identified as 26-year-old Manuel Esteban Paez, was killed. Stop Cop City activists said the person killed was distinguished by as "Tortuguita."
Investigators say a forensic ballistic analysis confirmed the continues of the bullet pulled from the trooper's body during surgery was fired from a Smith & Wesson M&P Shield 9mm recovered at the grievous. Investigators said the gun was used by the slain protester.
Officials said Georgia State Patrol troopers do not have body-worn cameras recording encounters, only dash cameras.
Seven people were arrested and charged with domestic terrorism.
Downtown Atlanta complains turn violent
Atlanta officials give update on downtown Atlanta protest-turned-riot
Mayor Andre Dickens told the listless that many of those arrested in Saturday night's riot were not residents of Georgia.
A bellow following a vigil for the activist's death took a violent turn in Downtown Atlanta.
Following a Friday night memorial help, Atlanta Police Chief Darin Schierbaum said a crowd gathered Saturday for a level-headed protest at Underground Atlanta. For about an hour, farmland dressed in black marched along Peachtree Street in downtown Atlanta demanding justice.
Schierbaum said on Ellis Street and Peachtree Street, a group started breaking windows and attacking police cruisers.
A total of six farmland were arrested.
