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On Sunday, March 5, a group of 35 people called either "forest defenders" or "violent agitators" were detained for what police call a coordinated attack on construction equipment and police officers, according to the Atlanta Police Department.
Of those detained, 23 were arrested and charged with domestic terrorism, including Alexis Paplai, Ayla King, and Timothy Bilodeau, from Massachusetts.
Protests against the city's decision to build "Cop City," plotted on 85 acres of unincorporated DeKalb County around Intrenchment Creek and the South River Forest Basin, intensified when police killed Manuel Terán, who went by the name “Tortuguita,” on January 18, 2023, as reported by Daily Voice.
These arrests follow the January arrest of the daughter of Massachusetts Democratic House Whip Katherine Clark.
Read More: Katherine Clark's Child Arrested While Protesting Police Shooting Of Manuel Terán
At Sunday's protest, designed to slow or stop construction of the Atlanta Public Safety Training Center, people threw rocks, bricks, Molotov cocktails, and fireworks, according to both Atlanta police and the Scenes from the Atlanta Forest website.
"In this area, police have staged around-the-clock for over a month, spending $41,500 per day to protect the area from protestors," the Scenes from the Atlanta Forest said. "Because of [Sunday's] action, most or all of the work conducted since the murder of Tortuguita was undone."
The outcry against the construction of "Cop City" extends to socio-economic and cultural issues as well as environmental.
"Building “Cop-City” will further militarize the Atlanta police and add to more violence being perpetrated against Black and Brown communities," a Color For Change petition says. "The site will also be used for tactical training to disrupt movements and protests against police violence."
"The facility will not be built on a forest," a City of Atlanta's press release said. "The training center will sit on land that has long been cleared of hardwood trees through previous uses of the site. Arborists have confirmed the existing vegetation on this land is overwhelmingly dominated by invasive species like brush, weeds, vines, and softwood trees."
More protests are planned for the coming days.
All 23 of the arrested protesters were charged by the Georgia Bureau of Investigations.
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