A stop sign sits on the outside of the forest as construction continues after a SWAT escort this morning at the construction site of a public safety training facility that activists have derided with the nickname "Cop City", in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S., February 6, 2023. REUTERS
On Sunday, after a protest on the property resulted in altercations between police and demonstrators and 35 people were detained, fires broke out at the building site of an Atlanta police training center, according to the police.
Demonstrators opposing both the militarization of police and the development of the forest that its proponents refer to as the “lungs of Atlanta” have gathered outside the proposed site of the Atlanta Public Safety Training Center, mockingly referred to as “Cop City” by opponents.
The police and fire training center is being built on 85 acres (34.4 hectares) of a 400-acre property in unincorporated DeKalb County that is owned by the city, according to the facility’s website.
It is within the larger South River Forest, also known as the Weelaunee Forest.
Sunday’s events began with a music festival that was part of a week of demonstrations against the construction. But police said events turned violent when “agitators” changed into black clothing, breached the site, and launched bricks, rocks, Molotov cocktails and fireworks at officers.
“The illegal actions of the agitators could have resulted in bodily harm. Officers exercised restraint and used non-lethal enforcement to conduct arrests,” police said.
Heavy smoke could be seen for miles, WSB television reported. Images on social media showed flames and smoke coming from multiple spots on the property. One image showed heavy equipment in flames.
Hundreds of people attended Sunday’s events, and a group broke off from the concert to start a protest, WSB reported, citing witnesses.
The area was on lockdown, with a special weapons and tactics (SWAT) team reporting to the scene. The fire was later extinguished, WAGA television reported, citing reporters at the scene.
Opponents of the site say they want to save an important green space near the greater Atlanta metropolitan area of 6 million people.
“We call on all people of good conscience to stand in solidarity with the movement to stop Cop City and defend the Weelaunee Forest,” reads a statement on a website called Defend The Atlanta Forest.
The website promoted a series of events from March 4 to March 11 including live music and forest tours, describing it as the fifth such week of activities.
With more events planned in coming days, Atlanta police said they and other law-enforcement agencies had “multi-layered strategy that includes reaction and arrest.”
The site was subject to a protest in January that briefly turned violent as demonstrators set a police car on fire and smashed windows of buildings. Demonstrators at that time gathered to protest against the killing by law enforcement of an activist during a raid to clear the construction site.
