Skip to main content

Protester killed, trooper shot at Atlanta's proposed 'Cop City' training site

 

A man is dead and a Georgia state trooper injured Wednesday after law enforcement officers attempted to move protesters from the site of a controversial proposed public safety training facility near Atlanta.

Activists have been occupying the area they call "Cop City" since late 2021 in an attempt to halt the project. Officers from several agencies were clearing people out of the area early Wednesday when the shootings happened, the Associated Press reported.

"One person fired shots at law enforcement. Law enforcement fired back," the Georgia Bureau of Investigation said on Twitter. "A Georgia State Trooper was hit and taken to the hospital and is in surgery. One man was killed."

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp said on Twitter he and his family are "praying for this brave Trooper and public safety officers across all law enforcement agencies today."

According to a statement
 released by the Altanta Community Press Collective, which has supported the activists, "dozens of heavily armed" law enforcement officers entered "the tree line with guns drawn and heavy machinery poised to continue forest destruction."

"Police killed a forest defender for loving this earth, for taking a stand against the ongoing destruction of the planet and its people," the statement said.

Investigators have not released the name of the man who was killed. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation said the probe is ongoing.

What's happening at 'Cop City'?

Activists with the "Defend the Atlanta Forest" movement – which describes itself as a decentralized movement to defend the Atlanta forest" – have been occupying the area in unincorporated DeKalb County to halt the construction of the 85-acre training facility.

The $90 million Atlanta Public Safety Training Center is expected to host police, fire and emergency first responders and feature classrooms, a shooting range, a mock village and more, according to the Atlanta Police Foundation.

Activists say the project causes "ecological destruction" and will "hyper-militarize law enforcement," contributing to the oppression of "Atlanta's diverse Black and working-class communities," according to the Defend the Atlanta Forest website.

The website notes the land has a "long history as a site of oppression," including as a slave plantation and forced labor camp. "Rather than investing in solutions to the environmental crisis, governments are investing in heavier policing, especially of those disadvantaged groups," the website reads.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Another major HIV vaccine trial fails

  The only HIV vaccine in a late-stage trial has failed, researchers announced Wednesday, dealing a significant blow to the effort to control the global HIV epidemic and adding to a decadeslong roster of failed attempts. Known as Mosaico, the trial was the product of a public-private partnership including the U.S. government and the pharmaceutical giant Janssen. It was run out of eight nations in Europe and the Americas, including the U.S., starting in 2019. Researchers enrolled nearly 3,900 men who have sex with men and transgender people, all deemed at substantial risk of HIV. The  leaders of the study   decided to discontinue  the mammoth research effort after an independent data and safety monitoring board reviewed the trial’s findings and saw no evidence the vaccine lowered participants’ rate of HIV acquisition. “It’s obviously disappointing,” Dr. Anthony Fauci, who as the long-time head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) was an...
Post a Comment
Read more

How events unfolded in Sarah Everard’s killing as her murderer is sentenced to life without parole

  The day Everard goes missing – March 3: 4:45 p.m.: Couzens collects the hire car. – 9 p.m.: Everard leaves her friend’s house in Clapham Junction in south London to walk about 2.5 miles home. – 9:13 p.m.: She phones her boyfriend for just over 14 minutes. – 9:15 p.m.: Everard is captured alone on CCTV. – 9:35 p.m.: A bus camera captures two figures beside a white Vauxhall Astra parked on the sidewalk with hazard lights flashing. – 9:38 p.m.: Another bus camera captures the same vehicle with the two front car doors open. – 11:38 p.m.: Couzens transfers Everard to his own car in Dover and drives towards a secluded rural area where she is raped and murdered. The aftermath – 2:31 a.m.: Having transferred Everard to his own car, a Seat, Couzens stops at a service station in Dover to buy drinks. Everard is dead by this point. – 3:21 a.m.: The car passes a CCTV camera near Hoad’s Wood, where Everard’s body is dumped. He visits the site twice, leaving just before dawn. – 8:30 a.m.: The h...
Post a Comment
Read more

Top Wikipedia Editor Arrested in Belarus

     Prominent   Wikipedia   editor Mark Bernstein has been detained in   Belarus   for editing   Wikipedia   articles about Russia's invasion of Ukraine. The Main Directorate for Combating Organized Crime and Corruption of Belarus (GUBOPiK) has arrested Bernstein, according to Belarusian publication Zerkalo. The Verge reported that Bernstein's social media accounts, Wikipedia handle and place of work had been shared in GUBOPik's channel on the Telegram messaging app. A video of Bernstein's arrest was also posted, along with his photo and personal details. Bernstein is accused of "distributing fake anti-Russian information" in the photo. Bernstein is one of the top 50 editors of Russian Wikipedia. A Wikimedia Foundation spokesperson said: "The Foundation's Trust and Safety and Human Rights teams have been monitoring the ongoing crisis in Ukraine. "We are in close touch with our communities in the region to ensure their saf...
Post a Comment
Read more