ATLANTA, Ga.—The 61 individuals police arrested for alleged racketeering and other alleged crimes aren’t short on allies in their quest to prevent the creation of the Atlanta Public Safety Training Center.
Activists have disparagingly called the center “Cop City” and mounted an international campaign to stop its construction.
Between 100 and 200 protesters chanted and waved signs outside the Fulton County Superior Court during arraignment hearings, calling for the release of the 61 individuals.
While the Nov. 6 protest was peaceful, signs threatening to “get nasty” if the accused weren’t released and speeches saying America “doesn’t deserve peace” struck ominous notes.
“We are hoping to accomplish that the charges be dropped,” Geovani Serrano, a protester at the event, told The Epoch Times.
“But at the same time, to let the city know that we haven’t stopped. We will find a way to continue fighting, and we will not let Cop City be built.”
“Atlanta don’t deserve our nonviolence,” said Mary Hooks, the national field secretary for the Movement for Black Lives. “America [expletive] deserves our violence. This country don’t deserve nonviolence.”
The crowd cheered and clapped.
“You lucky, you lucky we don’t want revenge,” she said. “We want transformation.”
At least two protest participants carried signs reading “Drop RICO or We'll Get Nasty.”
Some protesters carried an arch of branches cut from the forest where Atlanta plans to build the police center.
“The only thing we will say is all the charges are [expletive],” said a protester who refused to give his name. “Free them all.”
Gaza and Georgia
The protests also mixed in support for the causes of “Free Palestine” and LGBT issues.
The war between Israel and Palestine is connected because police repress “our people,” one activist speaking at the protest said.
“Our people are people who are arrested defending the forests,” he said. “Our people are people who’ve been arrested for being out there in the streets, for being at rallies and demonstrations like this. For being in the forests.”
These people face a global network of police, including officers in Fulton County, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Homeland Security, police in Western Europe, and police in Israel, he said.
At points, protesters chanted: “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” and “Whose streets? Our streets.”
They also played music on a speaker system, including the song, “[Expletive] tha Police” by hip-hop group N.W.A.
In a world without police or prisons, justice will work differently, protester Jovan Julien told The Epoch Times. In a prisonless world, people will have either “reparatory justice” or “capital punishment,” he said.
“There are some places where people kill folks,” he said. “There’s other places where there are systems of repertory justice.”
But the real question is, “How do we keep things from happening?” Mr. Julien said. He suggested that evil comes from a lack of understanding and from competition over scarce resources and that by remedying these problems, society can prevent crime.
“How do we slow down to teach our kids about consent so that they never get to a case of rape?”
Most protest members were young white women wearing medical masks, although men, older individuals, and people of other ethnicities were present.
There were no counter-protesters. Several passing cars honked in approval.
Protest Against Police Center
The protest and arraignment mark the latest steps in a battle between activists and the Atlanta city government that started in September 2021.
The Atlanta City Council voted to build the new police training facility.
But by the end of that year, activists took up residence in the forest surrounding the project site to prevent construction.
Progress on the work slowed to a crawl as the forest’s occupants used a combination of sit-ins, violence, and community engagement to fight the center’s creation.
Activists attacked police with Molotov cocktails and bricks on March 5, burning construction equipment.
Police arrested 23 people after that incident.
On Jan. 18, 2023, activist Manuel Teran, also known as Tortuguita, shot at police during a raid on the forest and then died by police gunfire, according to Georgia authorities.
Many activists say police shot Teran without provocation.
On Jan. 21, protesters rioted downtown, breaking windows and destroying police cars.
On June 6, hundreds of activists gathered to speak at Atlanta’s City Hall ahead of a council vote over approving an additional $36 million in public funding for the construction of the proposed police and firefighter training center.
Activists say they’ve collected more than 100,000 signatures opposing it.
Some of the most devoted supporters of the “Stop Cop City” don’t even come from Atlanta, according to a press release from the attorney general’s office.
It said only 13 are from Georgia. Two are from other countries.
A Complex Trial
Inside the courthouse, the arraignment of the protesters continued.
Most people who appeared had not yet surrendered at the Fulton County Jail to be booked on their charges.
Some had recently reached agreements with prosecutors on a bond amount and conditions, and others were still in the process of doing so.
Fulton County Superior Court Judge Kimberly Esmond Adams told them they had until 10 a.m. on Nov. 7, 24 hours after the start of the arraignment proceedings, to turn themselves in.
If they fail to do so, Judge Adams warned, a warrant for their arrest could be issued, and any bond would be rescinded.
Fifty-seven of them appeared, called in small groups before the court over a three-hour period, and each waived arraignment.
Four defendants failed to appear. One was believed to be in France, and prosecutors didn’t have a good address for him. One was in federal immigration custody.
Another, who is not American and who had left the country, tried to return twice in recent days to attend the hearing but was denied entry to the United States, her lawyer said. A fourth didn’t show.
Most people who appeared had not yet surrendered at the Fulton County Jail to be booked on their charges. Some had recently reached agreements with prosecutors on a bond amount and conditions, and others were still in the process of doing so.
Judge Adams told them they had until 10 a.m. on Nov. 7, 24 hours after the start of the arraignment proceedings, to turn themselves in.
If they fail to do so, she warned, a warrant for their arrest could be issued, and any bond would be rescinded.
Judge Adams instructed defense attorneys to provide the attorney general’s office with hard drives by Nov. 10 so they can receive copies of evidence in the case, known as discovery.
Prosecutors are to finish copying and distributing that evidence to defense attorneys by the end of the year.
A final plea hearing will be set no later than the end of June, Judge Adams said.
She explained to the groups of defendants that if they want to reach a plea agreement with prosecutors, they must do it by that date.
Prosecutors have alleged a conspiracy that includes a wide variety of underlying crimes that range from possessing fire accelerant and throwing Molotov cocktails at police officers to being reimbursed for glue and food for activists who spent months camping in the woods near the construction site.
