Atlanta, Georgia, in preparation for potential unrest, has activated the National Guard. A thousand troops along with armored vehicles were deployed to the city. Georgia Governor Brian Kemp declared a state of emergency, demanding extra military presence in Atlanta. The state of emergency is in effect until February 9.
Conflict has escalated between police and protesters demonstrating against the forest-killing project “Cop City.” Cop City refers to a new planned state of the art $90 million dollar police training facility sprawling 85-acres in a disputed location in an Atlanta forest, called Weelaunee Forest by indigenous Muscogee Creek people.
On January 18, there was a planned police operation to remove protester encampments, approximately 25 campsites were located and removed, according to police. Manuel Esteban Paez Teran, a protester, was killed by Georgia law enforcement. Authorities say Teran was killed after he shot and wounded a Georgia state trooper. The officer survived the injury.
Forest defender demonstrators have become even more furious after a fellow protester was murdered. On January 21, six protesters were arrested after property damage and a police vehicle was set on fire.
Protesters have been holding demonstrations for months against the development of Cop City. Protesters have surrounded the trees to protect the forest and camped out to try to halt the development of the $90 million construction, funded by the Atlanta Police Foundation. The protesters don’t want the expensive project to continue, which would require cutting down many trees and it would contribute to strengthening the police state in Atlanta.
Six of the protesters from the “Defend The Atlanta Forest” movement were arrested and charged with domestic terrorism on December 13 and granted bond on December 27.
There have been demonstrations against Cop City from Georgia to Oregon. Banners were dropped at the Bank of America half-marathon in Chicago on June 5, 2022, to protest the Bank of America contributing harm to the climate and financing the police training facility that will cause destruction in the Weelaunee Forest.
An anonymous man in Portland Oregon lit a Bank of America on fire on December 31, 2022. He claimed responsibility in an anonymous blog post, saying “I attack for revenge against capital for the hell it creates, to break the illusion of police control that usually protects it.” He goes on to say “Bank of America funds the Atlanta Police Foundation and a thousand other projects of control. Earlier that day, the six friends in Atlanta charged with ‘domestic terrorism’ were released from jail. May this fire bring them some warmth in winter.” The Portland bank burner still has not been caught by police or fire investigators.
Atlanta police are also expecting outrage from Tyre Nicols’s murder by police in Memphis, Tennessee to contribute to the state of emergency requiring National Guard. “We are closely monitoring the events in Memphis and are prepared to support peaceful protests in our city,” Atlanta police said. “We understand and share in the outrage surrounding the death of Tyre Nichols. Police officers are expected to conduct themselves in a compassionate, competent, and constitutional manner and these officers failed Tyre, their communities and their profession. We ask that demonstrations be safe and peaceful.”
So far the National Guard has been just a symbol of force as a deterrent. Protests have been largely peaceful. If they are called in, the National Guard troops will have “the same powers of arrest and apprehension as do law enforcement officers.”