(RepublicanNews.org) – The Atlanta Police Department has arrested 23 people, including a lawyer for a prominent leftist advocacy group, for throwing Molotov cocktails and further damaging a cop-training facility on March 5th.
The 23 were arrested for the charge of domestic terrorism after Sunday’s vandalism. Police say protestors threw Molotov cocktails that set construction vehicles on fire; they were also throwing large rocks and setting off fireworks.
The protestors took aim at a training facility that’s under construction for police training in Atlanta. The 85-acre Atlanta Public Safety Training Center is being built to better train future cops, help retain current police, and attract high-quality recruits, according to the city. Like other major American cities, Atlanta is having difficulty hiring police as public sentiment against law enforcement went into high gear during the riots in the summer of 2020.
Those against the facility call it “Cop City.”
Among those arrested was an attorney for the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC). The SPLC bills itself as a watchdog group for civil rights and stands against racist and “fascist” conservative figures and groups. It publishes lists of people and organizations it considers dangerous.
One of SPLC’s staff lawyers, Tom Jurgen, was arrested. Jurgen is associated with another left-leaning organization, the National Lawyers Guild.
Atlanta police chief Darin Schierbaum told the media that property destruction “would not be tolerated” by his department. Those who attack cops and damage police equipment are breaking the law, he said, describing the Sunday incident as a “very violent attack.”
Agreeing with many observers, Schierbaum asserted that the attack had nothing to do with the training center, and everything to do with “anarchy” and destabilizing the rule of law.
The SPLC defended itself in a statement, saying the arrests were an escalation of “policing tactics against protestors and observers” who only want to save the Weelaunee Forest from being damaged by the construction of the facility.
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