Atlanta, GA
‘Stop Cop City’ vandals target Atlanta police SWAT property, officials say
Vandals try to interrupt into Atlanta police SWAT workplace
Officers advised FOX 5 Atlanta they consider protestors with the “No Cop Metropolis” motion are liable for the break-in.
ATLANTA – Vandals tried to interrupt in to a highly-sensitive Atlanta police workplace, based on officers.
Investigators believed a bunch known as “Cease Cop Metropolis” could also be behind the illegal act.
On Saturday night time, Michael Bond, a councilman and member of the general public security panel, mentioned vandals used lower tree limbs to interrupt by the fencing that protects the SWAT workplace and accompanying buildings the place particular gear is saved.
“This group that claims to wish to shield timber lower down timber to make use of as weapons,” the town chief mentioned.
These trespassers broken the SWAT property, however didn’t get inside.
The workplace is a part of the DeKalb County web site the place the Atlanta Police Division is planning to assemble an expanded public security coaching complicated. Opponents have dubbed it “Cop Metropolis.”
For at the very least two years, demonstrators have opposed inserting police services there.
“This goes past protesting,” mentioned Councilman Bond. “Town wants a robust response.”
In an announcement, a spokesperson for the Atlanta Police Division mentioned new safety measures will probably be taken to guard the property higher.
What’s ‘Cop Metropolis?’
Atlanta Metropolis Council accredited a proposal to lease forested land in unincorporated DeKalb County to the Atlanta Police Basis to construct a coaching facility for police and first responders.
Metropolis council tabled a vote on a controversial state-of-the-art coaching facility on Aug. 16, stating public engagement on the matter was poorly executed.
The Atlanta Police Basis plans to fund and construct a brand new facility on 85 acres and protect the remaining portion of the 265-acres property as inexperienced area, which is at the moment not accessible to the general public.
What’s the ‘Cease Cop Metropolis’ motion?
Protesters oppose “the growth of the police state” and mentioned the Atlanta Police Basis is threatening the Atlanta forest.
“We aren’t extremest, we’re neighbors of the forest, residents of south Atlanta, most significantly, we’re clever individuals who know the way forward for the world is on fireplace,” Mae Johnson, who mentioned she lives in a neighborhood close to “Cop Metropolis.”
She mentioned the “Cease Cop Metropolis” motion has broad help due to the environmental affect the forest has on the town. Metropolis council members mentioned they’d be planting tons of extra timber for every tree that might be lower down.
Supporters of the motion have held a number of protests, together with one in October in Little 5 Factors. Throughout a protest earlier this 12 months at Inman Park, protesters mentioned they had been arrested “with excessive power,” which they mentioned proves legislation enforcement must be reformed.
Protesters mentioned they need extra probes into allegations of police brutality that gave rise to the Black Lives Matter motion, as an alternative of investigations of protesters.
Tensions between ‘Cease Cop Metropolis’ protesters and police
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation and the Atlanta Police Division verify they’re a part of the multi-agency probe into the exercise round what opponents name “Cop Metropolis.”
The deliberate facility, sitting alongside Key Highway in DeKalb County’s South River Forest, is on the middle of a bitter and drawn-out battle. Quite a few teams oppose what they see as an overreach of a police state into the Atlanta woodlands.
The location and close by the Boulderwalk neighborhood have been flash factors. In September, flames torched building gear throughout the road from Boulderwalk. This previous summer season, vandals destroyed surveillance cameras within the neighborhood and set fireplace to a truck of a close-by landowner in separate incidents. A tech despatched to repair these cameras reported being fired upon.
Video launched by Atlanta police exhibits somebody throwing what investigators describe as “Molotov cocktails” at officers alongside Key Highway, which borders the venture.
Earlier this 12 months, the officers of Brasfield & Gorrie, the agency contracted to design and construct the Atlanta police division’s new coaching facility, has been the goal of vandals. Their essential places of work in Birmingham, Alabama, had a number of damaged home windows, paint splashed on its signal and graffiti painted on a window that mentioned: “Drop Cop Metropolis or Else.” The corporate claimed vandals dedicated $80,000 in damages, together with a number of damaged home windows, paint splashed on its signal and graffiti.
Organizers mentioned rallies and protests will proceed of their try to get the plans scrapped for the brand new coaching facility, however as of now the Atlanta Police Basis nonetheless plans to construct it.
Atlanta police are providing a $25,000 reward for suggestions that lead investigators to these liable for the continued crimes dedicated in protest of the so-called “Cop Metropolis” venture.