Atlanta, GA
All Eyes on Atlanta: Nation waits for Trump indictment while Stop Cop City protestors rally
A group of photographers and TV cameramen started running from in front of the Lewis R. Slaton Fulton County Courthouse where they had been stationed all morning in anticipation of any news on indictments on former United States President Donald J. Trump went to the corner of Pryor Street and MLK Blvd.
There they would see Fulton County Sheriff’s Department deputies aggressively approach a small group of Cop City protestors from Community Movement Builders, a local nonprofit organization. The sheriff’s department attempted to drown out the protestors’ chants of “Stop Cop City,” No Justice, No Peace, F&*k those racist ass police,” and “Andre Dickens, Donald Trump, I don’t know the *expletive* difference” by sirens and bullhorn requesting that they take the protest off county court property.
The entire time major TV networks, print publications and websites took account of the incident.
All eyes are on Atlanta these days and it doesn’t look like it will change any time soon as Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis is presenting 2020 Georgia election investigation findings to a grand jury. The Stop Cop City rally took place around 11 a.m. Monday morning, taking full advantage of the amount of media that had been positioned outside of the county courthouse night after night for the past week and a half.
The state of Georgia rose to national prominence during the most recent gubernatorial and senatorial races that helped make Stacey Abrams, Senator Rev. Raphael Warnock and Senator Jon Ossoff household names. The excitement around Georgia politics has yet to cool off.
Fulton County Sheriff’s deputies, some on motorcycles, made the protestors move down MLK away from the courthouse. During the mini-standoff, Community Movement Builders organizer Keyanna Jones hoped the deputies had the same energy and interest if pro-Trump rallies or protests take place in front of or near the courthouse this week.
“Fulton County was extremely aggressive in the way they came out.They tried to push us away,” said Jones. “They made a very big physical showing against a group of students and I don’t think they really understand what this is going to do. It’s a bad look.”
Community Movement Builders has plans for more protests and rallies going forward.
“They are down here because Trump’s motorcade is going to come through and they are trying to protect the [former] president, so stay over there,” she said. “We are over here, we are not bothering them.”
Locals are also keeping their eyes on everything taking place downtown. Felix Jones, 48, has a personal interest in the indictments. He told The Atlanta Voice of Trump, “I want him to be indicted.” A native of East Point and a Democrat, Jones admitted that he did not vote for Trump in either of the two past presidential elections.
Joetta Burnette, a 71-year-old Alabama native and resident of Atlanta since 1977, said of all of the cameras and security around the courthouse, “This has been an interesting time” and of the 45th President of the United States, “He should be indicted. Nobody is above the law. Trump is one of the biggest criminals in America.”
Willis will likely announce twelve indictments related to the electors scheme which sought to overturn the results of the 2020 Presidential Election in Georgia.