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Stop Cop City

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Coordinates: 33°41′38″N 84°20′10″W / 33.69383°N 84.33606°W / 33.69383; -84.33606
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Stop Cop City
Part of Black Lives Matter and United States racial unrest (2020–2023) and the climate movement
Stop Cop City graffiti along the Proctor Creek Greenway Trail
Location
Cop City, South River Forest, DeKalb County, Georgia

33°41′38″N 84°20′10″W / 33.69383°N 84.33606°W / 33.69383; -84.33606
Parties
Coalition of environmental organizations, social justice organizations, community groups, and autonomous forest defenders
Lead figures

non-centralized leadership

Casualties and losses
1 Georgia State Trooper injured (Gunshot)
Map

Stop Cop City (SCC), also known as Defend the Atlanta Forest (DTF), is a decentralized movement focused on Atlanta, Georgia, in opposition to the Atlanta Public Safety Training Center or "Cop City". The facility was announced in 2021 as a partnership between the Atlanta Police Foundation and the City of Atlanta, and completed in April 2025.[1] The Stop Cop City movement has received international attention, especially after Tortuguita, a protestor occupying the disputed site, was killed by police during a raid in January 2023.[2]

Opponents of the facility are concerned about destruction of the South River Forest and associated environmental justice impacts exacerbating economic disparities and ecological response to climate change in a poor, majority-Black neighborhood.[3] Opponents also argue that the center will increase militarization of policing in the city—which had witnessed several protests against police violence following the 2020 murder of George Floyd in Minnesota and the killing of Rayshard Brooks in Atlanta.[4][5][6]

Proponents of the training facility said that the project was necessary to fight crime and to improve police morale. They said there was no feasible alternate site for the training center and argued that the location is "not a forest".[6]

The state charged several protestors with domestic terrorism and indicted sixty-one people for criminal conspiracy in September 2023. The protests have drawn participants from all over the United States, and many of those indicted are not from Georgia—leading the project's proponents to cast them as "outside agitators", while movement participants argue that the project will train many police officers from outside of Georgia.[7][8] A petition for public referendum on the project also became embroiled in a lawsuit, and neither this nor the criminal suits had been resolved by April 2025 when the facility opened.[9][10]

Background

[edit]

Following Black Lives Matter protests in the US in 2014, funding for police training at all levels of government skyrocketed, and some cities proposed additional police training facilities. A similar facility was approved in New York City in 2015 following the police killing of Eric Garner, and also in Chicago following a string of police killings in that city between 2014 and 2016.[11]

In 2020, as part of the nationwide response to the murder of George Floyd, Atlanta witnessed a months-long series of protests against police brutality.[5][12][13] Less than three weeks after Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin murdered Floyd on a public street, an Atlanta police (APD) officer shot and killed Atlanta resident Rayshard Brooks, which resulted in protests, arson,[14] and calls to defund the police.[5]

Criticism of police and associated unrest reduced police morale.[12] Authorities claim that Atlanta had struggled with rising crime, citing 149 homicides in 2021: the most in a single year since the 1990s.[6] However, the city's crime compilation data showed a drop in overall crime rates and an inconclusive trend in homicides from 2009 to 2023.[15] Advocates for the training facility said the facility would help address these problems.[6][12]

The training center includes a shooting range and a mock village that led to the project being nicknamed "Cop City." The city was expected to pay one-third of the $90 million cost, with the Atlanta Police Foundation (APF) paying the rest.[6] The eventual cost of the project was $118 million, with taxpayers contributing $67 million.[16] The APF first proposed the 85-acre (34 ha) facility in 2017.[17] According to the APF, the project provides "the necessary facilities required to effectively train 21st-century law enforcement agencies responsible for public safety in a major urban city." Atlanta mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms announced the facility in her 2021 State of the City address.[18]

Residents who support the construction of the training facility have said that they want a properly trained police force and hope the project would improve the quality of the Atlanta police force to make their communities safer.[12]

Prison farm

[edit]
See also: Old Atlanta Prison Farm
Debris and abandoned buildings at South River Forest

The facility is located at the Old Atlanta Prison Farm (OPF), which some have recommend be preserved and placed on the National Register of Historic Places.[citation needed] Opponents of the project have objected to placing the police facility on the site of alleged human rights violations.[5][19] Environmental justice advocates and organizations have proposed that the OPF should remain a centerpiece in the 3,500-acre (14 km2) urban green space called the South River Forest,[6][12] citing "massive disparities" in Atlanta’s access to green space: African-American residents—including the area surrounding the OPF—have fewer and smaller parks.[12]

Timeline

[edit]

Cop City has been opposed by a varied coalition that includes residents and neighborhood associations[20] as well as groups organized around racial, housing, food, and environmental justice.[7][21][22][23] Plans were approved by the city in September 2021 after 17 hours of public comment from over 1,100 persons from Atlanta and elsewhere, 70% of whom opposed the project.[6] Some expressed concern that the approval process was secretive with limited input from affected communities.[12] The city appointed a community-advisory committee, and in 2022 Atlanta mayor Andre Dickens said that there was "a lot of room for input."[6] The advisory committee did not include representatives from environmental groups, but does include representatives from the police and fire departments and the Dickens administration.[6]

DTF supporters led divestment movements against corporate sponsors of the APF, and four "week of action" campaigns in 2021–22 that featured live music, supply drives, skill shares, and history lessons about the area.[24]

A portion of the South River Forest adjacent to the APF training center has also been threatened with development by Blackhall Studios—part of the Atlanta film industry. Two environmental organizations, the South River Forest Coalition and the South River Watershed Alliance, filed a lawsuit against the film studio development.[6]

Forest defense actions

[edit]
A tree sit to prevent cutting of trees at the Old Atlanta Prison Farm

Beginning in late 2021, the contested forest was occupied by self-described forest defenders who barricaded the area and constructed tree-sits to prevent trees from being cut. Forest defenders had several conflicts with police, resulting in some arrests. They have also destroyed equipment being used by developers in the forest, vandalized property belonging to corporations connected with the APF and Blackhall studios, and committed arson.[6] In May 2022 the corporate offices of Brasfield & Gorrie in Birmingham, Alabama were vandalized, and the message "Drop Cop City Or Else" was spray-painted on the building.[25]

There is wide variation in the political stance and approach of DTF forest defenders,[25] and several sources describe the movement as leaderless and autonomous, with any participant able to act as they wish.[26][27][28] Prison abolition was a strongly represented political philosophy among those camped in the forest.[5][13]

In September 2022, the APF reported that it projected opening the first phase of the facility in late 2023. DTF estimated that it had delayed the project by at least a month and a half.[24] (The project eventually opened in 2025).[16]

On December 13, 2022, a task force of multiple police agencies conducted a joint raid at the training facility site.[29] Five people, none of whom were Atlanta residents, were arrested and charged with domestic terrorism.[30] The Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) stated that road flares, gasoline, and explosive devices were found in the area;[29] when reporters asked police whether the explosive devices were fireworks or something more dangerous, the police declined to answer.[31]

Fatal shooting by police

[edit]
Main article: Killing of Tortuguita

On January 18, 2023, Georgia State Troopers and other agencies launched another raid. During the raid a trooper was shot in the leg, and a Venezuelan protester, Manuel Esteban Paez Terán, aka "Tortuguita", was shot and killed by police.[32] Police stated that Tortuguita fired on them after they fired pepper balls into Tortugita's tent.[33][34] Multiple groups, including other protestors, two independent journalists who had previously interviewed Tortuguita, and Tortuguita's family, have questioned whether they fired first or fired at all,[33] pointing to the lack of body camera footage of the shooting and calling for an independent investigation.[33][35][36][37] GBI conducted a forensic ballistic analysis matched the projectile recovered from the officer's wound to the handgun found in Tortuguita's possession.[38] The GBI said that there is no body camera footage of the shooting because Georgia State Patrol officers do not wear body-cameras.[39]

Documents released in 2025 appeared to confirm that Paez Terán shot at police, but also indicated that police may have precipitated a violent confrontation by casting forest defenders as domestic terrorists when previous conflicts had only involved fireworks and slingshots, and by escalating the encounter with pepperballs only three minutes after contacting Paez Terán.[40]

In March, Terán's family released the results of an independent autopsy revealing that Terán was shot fourteen times while sitting cross-legged on the ground with their hands raised in the air.[41][42]

Public response

[edit]

The killing of Tortuguita brought national and international attention to the project and its opposition, strengthened existing anti-police sentiment in the US, and significantly escalated the conflict. A vigil for Tortuguita a few days after the shooting erupted in riots, and Governor Kemp called the National Guard to subdue the protests.[2]

Stop Cop City protests in Atlanta on January 22, 2023

On January 21, 2023, protesters marched from Underground Atlanta down Peachtree Street. At the intersection with Ellis St, some protesters damaged institutions who support the facility and burned an Atlanta Police Department vehicle. Six arrests were made. Responding to condemnation of these acts, Stop Cop City issued a statement asserting that "Destruction of material is fundamentally different from violence. All reported acts appear to be explicitly targeted against the financial backers".[43]

Vigils and protests were also held in other cities, such as Bridgeport, Minneapolis, Nashville, Philadelphia, and Tucson, from January 20 to 22, 2023.[44] Some demonstrators spray painted graffiti on Bank of America buildings to protest the company's involvement in financing the facility's construction.[44]

March 2023 attack and domestic terrorism arrests

[edit]

On March 5, 2023, dozens of people attacked the Cop City construction site with rocks and firebombs, destroying construction equipment. Hours later, police raided the South River Music Festival about 0.75 miles away and detained 35 people, of which 12 were released and the remaining 23 were charged with domestic terrorism.[45] Festival attendees have accused police of selectively charging protestors from out of state, while releasing Georgia residents, in order to further the narrative that "outside agitators" coordinated and controlled the protests.[citation needed]

The arrest warrant for the festival attendees stated that domestic terrorism charges were brought against those based on probable cause, such as having had mud on their feet, and that those with legal aid phone numbers written on their bodies were considered suspicious. According to The Intercept, there is no information contained in the warrants that directly connects any of the defendants to illegal actions.[46][47] Atlanta police chief Darin Schierbaum refused to comment when confronted by journalists about this allegation.[48]

May 2023 additional arrests

[edit]

In May 2023, three activists were arrested and charged with felony intimidation of a police officer and misdemeanor stalking, with penalties up to 20 years in prison, for posting fliers and identifying an officer that shot Tortuguita.[49]

That same month, the GBI and APD conducted a SWAT style raid on the Atlanta Solidarity Fund (ASF), a legal bail fund.[50] Three of the fund’s organizers were arrested and charged with charity fraud and money laundering. Regarding the arrests, Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr pledged to “not rest until we have held accountable every person who has funded, organized, or participated in this violence and intimidation” regarding the protests[51]. All fifteen charges of money laundering against three ASF organizers were eventually dropped in September.[52]

June - September 2023 public referendum

[edit]

On June 6, 2023, the Atlanta City Council approved the $31 million funding after more than 16 hours of in-person public comment from over 300 speakers, the vast majority of whom were opposed to the project.[53][54][55] More than 1,000 people signed up to speak,[56] but hundreds of people were not admitted to the building.[57] A minority of speakers supported the project, stating that opponents do not represent the people of Atlanta.[58]

In June 2023, a coalition of activist groups opposed to the construction project announced their plans to force a referendum that would cancel the city’s lease to the APF for Cop City.[59] The Georgia constitution allows residents to force a referendum on decisions by local governments if they can get 15% of registered voters to sign petition; in Atlanta, 60,000[54] to 70,000[60] signatures would be required. The city said cancellation of the lease would not be legal.[61]

In September 2023, organizers submitted 116,000 signatures for the referendum, but the City Council refused to count them, and said the activists had missed the deadline to turn in the signatures. That deadline had been extended by US District Judge Mark Cohen, but the city's appeal of that decision got held up for over a year[62] in the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals,[61] and had not resolved as of April, 2025.[10]

September 2023 RICO conspiracy indictment

[edit]

In September 2023, sixty-one people who had been arrested in the forest or at stop cop city protests were charged with racketeering  under Georgia’s RICO law.[63] This indictment is likely the largest criminal conspiracy case ever filed against protestors in the US.[9]

As of April 2025, the racketeering case was stalled. Defendants in the case maintained their innocence and reported difficulty getting work and other hardships while they awaited trial for more than 20 months.[9] Some of the 61 were required to leave the state while the case was ongoing, though obliged to return to Atlanta for trial.[64]

2024 protests

[edit]

In April 2024, protesters organized a disturbance in front of Emory's Commencement stage against Cop City and the university's ties to Israel amid the war in Gaza. The university stated that the protesters were not members of the Emory University community.[65][66][67] A statement from protest organizers accused the university of being “complicit in genocide and police militarization” and called for "total institutional divestment from Israeli apartheid and Cop City at all Atlanta colleges and universities."[68][69] Georgia State Patrol, Atlanta Police and University Police forcefully dispersed the interlopers,[68][70] allegedly using tear gas, rubber bullets, and tasers.[71] 28 people were arrested, many with ties to Emory University.[72]

Issues and themes

[edit]

Domestic terrorism charges

[edit]

Legal scholars, protesters, and state and local governments were interested in the precedent the domestic terrorism charges would set for similar cases. Supporters said it would deter criminal behavior, while critics called it overreach that would stifle legitimate protest.[73]

In March 2023, several human rights groups co-signed a letter which said that "application of the domestic terrorism statute" against 19 of the 35 arrested March 2023 protestors "is an escalatory intimidation tactic and a draconian step that seems intended to chill First Amendment protected activity". The groups that signed the letter included Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, the National Lawyers Guild, and the Center for Constitutional Rights.[74]

Internationalism

[edit]

Nearly half of the trainees at Cop City will come from outside of Georgia, and Stop Cop City participants have been drawn from all over the country. Proponents of the facility have argued that these participants are "outside agitators" that don't represent Atlanta.[8]

Organizers have also pointed to the decades-long partnership between Atlanta Police and Israeli Police forces that is facilitated by the Georgia International Law Enforcement Exchange program, and made connections between the struggle against Cop City, the war in Gaza, and allegations of Palestinian genocide. The movement has received significant international solidarity, especially after the killing of Tortuguita.[8][7]

Organizers have also connected the struggle against Cop City with the role of the US in driving militarization of police in Latin America.[75]

Responses

[edit]

In Spring 2023, students and faculty from Georgia State University, Emory University, Agnes Scott College, Morehouse College, and Spelman College petitioned their institutions to officially denounce the training center.[20][76] None had as of April 2025.

On April 25, 2023, 20 protesters pitched tents in front of Emory University's Commencement stage to urge university leadership to denounce the training center.[77] Those 20 also asked that Emory University President Greg Fenves step down as a member of the Atlanta Committee for Progress (ACP), which played a role in building the project;[78] Fenves maintained his participation.[79] The protest ended when Emory Police ordered students to leave or be arrested.[77]

In 2023, Chris Carr, the Georgia Attorney General, defended bringing charges of domestic terrorism against protestors.[80]

See also

[edit]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ Biello, Peter (April 29, 2025). "Georgia Today: "Cop City" opens in Atlanta; Head Start may face cuts; Loeffler event in Suwanee". Georgia Public Broadcasting. Retrieved May 14, 2025.
  2. ^ a b Maxwell, Alannah (2024). ""Stop Cop City!": How collective framing transformed a local environmental protest into a national social justice movement.". Social & Political Review (PDF). Trinity College Dublin.
  3. ^ "Atlanta organizers unveil plan to stop 'Cop City' at the ballot box". AP News. June 7, 2023. Archived from the original on June 21, 2023. Retrieved November 3, 2023.
  4. ^ Abusaid, Shaddi; Stevens, Alexis; Hollis, Henri; Burns, Asia Simone (August 23, 2020). "No charges against Atlanta officers in fatal shooting of Rayshard Brooks". The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Archived from the original on August 24, 2022. Retrieved August 24, 2022.
  5. ^ a b c d e "Abolitionists and Environmentalists in Atlanta Band Together to "Stop Cop City"". YES! Magazine. Archived from the original on December 10, 2022. Retrieved December 10, 2022.
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Bethea, Charles (August 3, 2022). "The New Fight Over an Old Forest in Atlanta". The New Yorker. Archived from the original on April 5, 2023. Retrieved December 10, 2022.
  7. ^ a b c Gordon (she/her), Constance; and Na’puti (she/her), Tiara R. (October 1, 2024). "Powermapping "Stop Cop City": abolition ecology for possibilities beyond enclosure". Quarterly Journal of Speech. 110 (4): 576–602. doi:10.1080/00335630.2024.2397099. ISSN 0033-5630. {{cite journal}}: |first2= missing |last2= (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  8. ^ a b c James, Jocelyn (November 14, 2023). "Stop Cop City activists link GILEE program to Palestinian genocide". Prism. Retrieved May 14, 2025.
  9. ^ a b c Saunders, Patrick (May 12, 2025). "Defendants in Georgia 'Cop City' case say they are in limbo as trial delays continue". WABE. Retrieved May 13, 2025.
  10. ^ a b King, Christopher (April 29, 2025). "Protesters vow to fight on as Atlanta Public Safety Training Center opens". FOX 5 Atlanta. Retrieved May 13, 2025.
  11. ^ Mahoney, Madeline Thigpen, Adam (March 6, 2023). "Violent Confrontations End Peaceful Stop Cop City Music Festival". Capital B News. Retrieved May 13, 2025.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  12. ^ a b c d e f g Maxouris, Christina (September 24, 2022). "Atlanta wants to build a massive police training facility in a forest. Neighbors are fighting to stop it". CNN. Archived from the original on March 6, 2023. Retrieved December 10, 2022.
  13. ^ a b Lennard, Natasha (2022). "An Uncompromising Coalition Is Building Support to Nix Atlanta's "Cop City"". The Intercept. Archived from the original on December 10, 2022. Retrieved December 10, 2022.
  14. ^ Ellis, Ralph (June 24, 2020). "Woman charged in Atlanta Wendy's arson given $10,000 bond in first court hearing". CNN. Archived from the original on June 26, 2020. Retrieved July 4, 2020.
  15. ^ "Weekly Crime Reports". Archived from the original on January 27, 2023. Retrieved January 27, 2023.
  16. ^ a b Edward, Roz (April 30, 2025). "Atlantans Continue to Protest Cop City and Vow to Fight Police Militarization". Atlanta Daily World. Retrieved May 13, 2025.
  17. ^ https://atlantapolicefoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/VISION-SAFE-ATL-Infrastructure.pdf
  18. ^ https://www.atlantaga.gov/Home/Components/News/News/13655/1338
  19. ^ Vicks, Akil (July 2022). "Atlanta Is Building a "Cop City" on the Site of a Former Prison Farm". Jacobin. Archived from the original on July 30, 2022. Retrieved July 30, 2022.
  20. ^ a b Pratt, Timothy (February 9, 2023). "'Cop City' opposition spreads beyond Georgia forest defenders". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Archived from the original on February 28, 2023. Retrieved February 28, 2023.
  21. ^ "64 groups and businesses sign on to oppose public safety training center ahead of City Council resolution". SaportaReport. June 24, 2022. Archived from the original on January 30, 2023. Retrieved January 30, 2023.
  22. ^ Capelouto, J. D. "SE Atlanta neighborhoods: Don't build police training facility on old prison farm site". The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. ISSN 1539-7459. Archived from the original on January 30, 2023. Retrieved January 30, 2023.
  23. ^ "What is 'Cop City'? How opposition to an Atlanta police center prompted national demonstrations". NBC News. January 26, 2023. Archived from the original on January 30, 2023. Retrieved January 30, 2023.
  24. ^ a b "INSTITUTE INDEX: Defending Atlanta's last forest from 'Cop City'". Facing South. September 2, 2022. Archived from the original on December 10, 2022. Retrieved December 10, 2022.
  25. ^ a b "Diverse Coalition Unites Against Atlanta's Plan to Build "Cop City"". Filter. August 25, 2022. Archived from the original on December 10, 2022. Retrieved December 10, 2022.
  26. ^ Herskind, Micah (February 8, 2022). "Cop City and the Prison Industrial Complex in Atlanta". Mainline. Archived from the original on December 10, 2022. Retrieved December 10, 2022.
  27. ^ Fassler, Ella (February 17, 2022). "Activists Are Occupying the Woods of Atlanta to Block a New Police Facility". Vice. Archived from the original on July 30, 2022. Retrieved July 30, 2022.
  28. ^ Bernd, Candice (February 23, 2022). "Activists Blockade Construction of Massive Cop Training Center in Atlanta Forest". Truthout. Archived from the original on December 10, 2022. Retrieved December 10, 2022.
  29. ^ a b Sayers, Devon M.; Watson, Michelle; Levenson, Eric (December 14, 2022). "Five people arrested on domestic terrorism charges in clash at Atlanta's 'Cop City' site". CNN. Archived from the original on December 16, 2022. Retrieved December 16, 2022.
  30. ^ Wheatley, Thomas (December 15, 2022). "Atlanta's "Cop City" activists face domestic terrorism charges". Axios. Archived from the original on December 16, 2022. Retrieved December 16, 2022.
  31. ^ "Protesters question circumstances surrounding 'Stop Cop City' activist's death". PBS NewsHour. January 29, 2023. Archived from the original on February 3, 2023. Retrieved February 28, 2023.
  32. ^ "Atlanta Police Kill Forest Defender at Protest Encampment Near Proposed "Cop City" Training Center". Democracy Now!. Archived from the original on January 31, 2023. Retrieved January 23, 2023.
  33. ^ a b c Pratt, Timothy (January 21, 2023). "'Assassinated in cold blood': activist killed protesting Georgia's 'Cop City'". The Guardian. Archived from the original on January 30, 2023. Retrieved January 23, 2023.
  34. ^ Keenan, Sean (October 6, 2023). "No Charges for Troopers Who Killed 'Cop City' Protester Near Atlanta". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved May 14, 2025.
  35. ^ "Protesters: 'Cop City' activist's killing doesn't make sense". AP NEWS. January 29, 2023. Archived from the original on January 29, 2023. Retrieved February 2, 2023.
  36. ^ Rico, R.J. "Man killed, trooper shot while 'Cop City' protesters cleared". ABC News. Archived from the original on February 2, 2023. Retrieved February 2, 2023.
  37. ^ Peisner, David. "Little Turtle's War". THE BITTER SOUTHERNER. Archived from the original on February 2, 2023. Retrieved February 2, 2023.
  38. ^ Donesha, Aldridg. "GBI: Ballistic analysis shows projectile recovered from trooper's wound matches gun in protester's possession". 11 Alive. Archived from the original on May 16, 2024. Retrieved January 23, 2023.
  39. ^ Raymond, Jonathan (January 23, 2023). "GBI says bodycam video exists of aftermath of deadly 'Cop City' clash". 11 Alive. Archived from the original on May 16, 2024. Retrieved January 29, 2023.
  40. ^ Pratt, Timothy (January 28, 2025). "New documents shed light on police killing of Georgia 'Cop City' activist". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved May 14, 2025.
  41. ^ Owen, Tess (March 13, 2023). "Police Shot 'Stop Cop City' Activist 14 Times With Their Hands Up, Independent Autopsy Shows". Vice News. Archived from the original on March 13, 2023. Retrieved March 14, 2023.
  42. ^ Rico, R.J. (March 13, 2023). "Autopsy report says 'Cop City' protester had hands raised when killed". PBS News. Archived from the original on March 13, 2023. Retrieved March 14, 2023.
  43. ^ "6 arrested after violent protesters cause mayhem, set APD car on fire in downtown Atlanta". WSBTV. Archived from the original on January 27, 2023. Retrieved January 22, 2023.
  44. ^ a b Fur, Lucy (January 23, 2023). "Marches and Vigils Across the US Respond to the Police Killing of Forest Defender Tort". Unicorn Riot. Archived from the original on January 28, 2023. Retrieved January 24, 2023.
  45. ^ Spender, Tom (March 6, 2023). "Atlanta 'Cop City': Arrests as protesters clash with police". BBC News. Archived from the original on March 6, 2023. Retrieved March 6, 2023.
  46. ^ "The Show Must Go On: On Sunday's arrests at the South River Music Festival". Atlanta Community Press Collective. March 8, 2023. Archived from the original on March 11, 2023. Retrieved March 11, 2023.
  47. ^ Lennard, Natasha (March 8, 2023). "Atlanta Cop City Protesters Charged With Domestic Terror for Having Mud on Their Shoes". The Intercept. Archived from the original on March 12, 2023. Retrieved May 20, 2023.
  48. ^ "Unicorn Riot Coverage of the Movement to Protect the Atlanta Forest". UNICORN RIOT. Archived from the original on March 11, 2023. Retrieved March 11, 2023.
  49. ^ Lennard, Natasha; Lacy, Akela (May 2, 2023). "Activists Face Felonies for Distributing Flyers on "Cop City" Protester Killing". The Intercept. Archived from the original on May 4, 2023. Retrieved May 20, 2023. A forensics report from the Georgia Bureau of Investigation about guns fired during Tortuguita's killing named six state patrol officers: Bryland Myers, Jerry Parrish, Jonathan Salcedo, Mark Jonathan Lamb, Ronaldo Kegel, and Royce Zah. According to public records, one of the officers named lives in the area where the activists posted flyers. The report was obtained by the Atlanta Community Press Collective, an abolitionist nonprofit media group, through an open records request.
  50. ^ "ATLANTA POLICE ARREST ORGANIZERS OF BAIL FUND FOR COP CITY PROTESTERS". The Intercept. May 31, 2023. Archived from the original on June 1, 2023. Retrieved June 1, 2023.
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  57. ^ Andrews, Amanda (June 5, 2023). "Hundreds speak against Atlanta police training facility during City Council public comment". Georgia Public Broadcasting. Retrieved September 14, 2023.
  58. ^ https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/06/us/atlanta-cop-city-funding-vote.html
  59. ^ "Atlanta organizers unveil plan to stop 'Cop City' at the ballot box". AP NEWS. June 7, 2023. Archived from the original on June 21, 2023. Retrieved June 13, 2023.
  60. ^ "'Cop City' protesters collect enough signatures to put referendum on ballot". ABC News. Retrieved September 14, 2023.
  61. ^ a b "Judge blames Atlanta officials for confusion over 'Stop Cop City' referendum campaign". Washington Post. September 13, 2023. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved September 14, 2023.
  62. ^ Kelley, Collin (April 29, 2025). "Ribbon cutting held for controversial public safety training center". Rough Draft Atlanta. Retrieved May 13, 2025.
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  64. ^ https://www.thenation.com/article/activism/cop-city-defendants-rico-indictment/
  65. ^ https://www.fox5atlanta.com/news/protest-underway-at-emory-university-in-support-of-palestine-stop-cop-city
  66. ^ https://president.emory.edu/communications/2024/04/april-26-yesterdays-protests.html
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