Activists have announced a three-day protest against the Atlanta Public Safety Training Center will occur in November in what the organizers claim is a final bid to stop its construction.
The activists claim protest will occur from November 10-14, and are organizing it because their petition calling for a public referendum on the future of a facility that will train law enforcement and firefighters remains stalled with the City of Atlanta even though the public safety training center is nearly halfway complete.
Claiming widespread support for their cause, the activists charge that “[t]he people will have to enforce their own stop work order” on the facility, and pledged to “bend the course of history” in the Atlanta forest.
A petition calling for vote on the future of the Atlanta Public Safety Training Center was submitted to the city earlier this year, but a legal dispute and following appeal meant the activists technically missed their submission deadline. City officials elected to scan and publish the petitions online, but determined Atlanta could not authenticate them without guidance from the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals.
Because of this delay, the activists call for “a mass mobilization” to the forest where the public safety training center is being built, expressing gratitude for the previous efforts by “forest defenders” who physically occupied the site. That occupation is what sparked a shootout between a protester and Georgia State Troopers in January that resulted in one trooper wounded and the protester dead.
According to a schedule posted online, the activists plan to host a “Healing Festival” on Friday afternoon, before moving to “direct action trainings” on Saturday. On Sunday, something called a “Spokescouncil Meeting” will determine what type of protest the group will plan for Monday.
Though it remains unclear what type of direct action the “spokescouncil” will create, the activists note that “[i]f arrests happen, there will be some sort of jail support event.”
On their website, they acknowledge that the violent incident in January eventually sparked racketeering charges for dozens of activists.
In early September, Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr (R) indicted more than 60 activists in a sweeping racketeering indictment that alleges they engaged in a coordinated, criminal conspiracy to prevent the Atlanta Public Safety Training Center’s construction. Among those indicted were those accused of gathering and dispersing funds to those facing criminal charges for their participation in the protests.
More recently, prosecutors determined the Georgia State Troopers involved in the fatal shooting of a protester at the safety training center site will face no charges.
Though the activists claim to have widespread public support, a poll released in September indicated just 12 percent of Georgians support the “Stop Cop City” petition for a public referendum on the public safety training center, compared to 60 percent who back the facility, and 28 percent who are unsure.
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Tom Pappert is the lead reporter for The Georgia Star News and a reporter for the Arizona Sun Times. Follow Tom on X/Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
Image “‘Block Cop City’ Protesters” by BlockCopCity.org.
