‘Stop Cop City’ Week of Action Begins: Day 1
Atlanta, GA – The sixth ‘Week of Action’ against the Atlanta Police Foundation’s proposed urban warfare training center, currently under construction in the Weelaunee Forest but facing mounting legal challenges and public opposition, is beginning on Saturday with a kick-off rally in Brownwood Park in Southeast Atlanta. An evening vigil is also scheduled to honor the memory of forest defender Manuel ‘Tortuguita’ Terán, who was shot and killed by Georgia State Patrol troopers in a SWAT raid to evict ‘Stop Cop City’ tree-sitters in January.
The #StopCopCity movement’s sixth ‘Week of Action’ is getting underway at Brownwood Park in southeast Atlanta today – a variety of protests, gatherings, speeches and discussions are slated to take place around Atlanta over the next 7 days pic.twitter.com/pSB6X3eGPK
— UNICORN RIOT 🦄 linktr.ee/unicornriot (@UR_Ninja) June 24, 2023
See Unicorn Riot’s livestreams and other on-the-ground coverage. At 9pm we streamed the end of the police action on YouTube, Twitter and Facebook:
A group of police have gone thru Brownwood Park in SE Atlanta, we are live now – re CopCity protestshttps://t.co/LeLFdM08vs
— UNICORN RIOT 🦄 linktr.ee/unicornriot (@UR_Ninja) June 25, 2023
Several dozen Atlanta Police, including many from the A.P.E.X. unit (a rebrand of the infamously scandal-ridden ‘Red Dog’ team) arrived at the part at the scheduled start time of the vigil in what many activists said they felt was a deliberate act of intimidation and disruption. The park closure hour of 11 p.m. which police said they were there to announce was already clearly posted on signs around the park.
Just as the 8:30 p.m. vigil for Manuel ‘Tortuguita’ Terán was set to begin in Brownwood Park, several dozen Atlanta Police officers in tactical vests (some masked) swept through under the pretext of telling #StopCopCity protesters “the park closes at 11.” pic.twitter.com/iVgbsCYH0m
— UNICORN RIOT 🦄 linktr.ee/unicornriot (@UR_Ninja) June 25, 2023
After police pulled back to the perimeter around the park grounds, the vigil got underway as planned, although slightly behind schedule.
After the stage structure used during the vigil was broken down and seemingly all tents were removed from the park with everyone clearing the area before 11, Atlanta Police remained in the area but did not conduct a raid or sweep of the park at the announced closure time. APD officers manning cruisers did, however, choose to use their spotlights to obstruct the cameras of journalists documenting their activity, who were the only non-law enforcement presence by the time of park’s scheduled closure. A group of officers reportedly swept through the park looking for tents later at around midnight.
APD is shining their spotlights at the gaggle of media so we can’t take pictures. pic.twitter.com/CSJm7xgjee
— Atlanta Community Press Collective (@atlanta_press) June 25, 2023
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Unicorn Riot's coverage on the movement to defend the Atlanta Forest:
- Landing Page: Unicorn Riot Coverage of the Movement to Protect the Atlanta Forest
- Federal and State Police Raid Three Homes in Atlanta Leading to One Arrest Amid ‘Cop City’ Investigation (February 8, 2024)
- One Year Since Tortuguita’s Killing: A Reflection on our Coverage of the Movement Against ‘Cop City’ and the First Eco-Activist Killed in the US (January 18, 2024)
- ‘Cop City’ Defendant Victor Puertas Has Been Held For Months Without Trial, but His Community Hasn’t Forgotten Him (November 26, 2023)
- No Charges For Georgia Troopers Who Killed Manuel ‘Tortuguita’ Terán (October 6, 2023)
- Over 60 People Indicted on RICO Charges in Atlanta, Allegedly Promoting ‘Anarchist Ideas’ (September 5, 2023)
- Indigenous Climate Activist Victor Puertas Remains in Custody Despite No Indictment (July 26, 2023)
- 6th ‘Stop Cop City’ Week of Action – Unicorn Riot Coverage
- ‘Stop Cop City’ Week of Action Day 8: Youth Rally; Atlanta Police Vehicles Torched (July 2, 2023)
- ‘Stop Cop City’ Week of Action Day 7: Cadence Bank ‘Drop The Loan’ Protest, Panel on Overpolicing (June 30, 2023)
- Clergy Demand Release of Indigenous Climate Activist Victor Puertas from ICE Detention (June 29, 2023)
- ‘Stop Cop City’ Week of Action Day 5: Cadence Bank Loan Protest, ‘March For the Forest’ (June 29, 2023)
- ‘Stop Cop City’ Week of Action Day 4: Rally to Reopen Intrenchment Creek Park (June 27, 2023)
- ‘Stop Cop City’ Week of Action Day 3: Bike Ride/Rally, Signature Gathering, Discussing Movement History (June 26, 2023)
- ‘Stop Cop City’ Week of Action Day 2: Rematriating Mvskoke Land; Hardcore Benefit Show (June 25, 2023)
- ‘Stop Cop City’ Week of Action Begins: Day 1 (June 24, 2023)
- ‘Their Overreach is Sowing the Seeds of Their Undoing’: Forest Defender Speaks from Bartow County Jail (June 20, 2023)
- ‘Cop City’ Protesters Visit Nationwide Insurance (June 14, 2023)
- Atlanta City Council Approves $67 Million in Public Funds for ‘Cop City’ (June 6, 2023)
- Atlanta Solidarity Fund Organizers Granted Bond (June 2, 2023)
- Three Atlanta Activists Arrested, Home Raided Over Bail Fund (May 31, 2023)
- ‘Don’t Forget Us’: Forest Defenders Confront Horrors of Life in DeKalb County Jail (May 30, 2023)
- ‘Cop City’ Panel Member Posted Slurs Online, Archived Tweets Indicate (May 18, 2023)
- ‘We Do Not Need a School for Assassins’: Hours of Public Comment Unanimously Against ‘Cop City’ (May 16, 2023)
- Three Face Felonies for Allegedly Flyering Near Home of One Georgia Trooper Tied to Killing of Forest Defender (May 8, 2023)
- One Granted Bond, Two Denied Pretrial Release: Forest Defenders Appear for Preliminary Hearings (May 4, 2023)
- No Gunpowder Residue Found on Manuel ‘Tortuguita’ Terán According to DeKalb County Autopsy (April 21, 2023)
- Eight Remain in Jail from March 5 Weelaunee Forest Raid, 15 Released (March 24, 2023)
- Behind the #StopCopCity Domestic Terrorism Warrants (March 21, 2023)
- An Historic Direct Action in a Forest Outside Atlanta (March 18, 2023)
- Manuel ‘Tortuguita’ Terán’s Independent Autopsy Report Released at Press Conference (March 13, 2023)
- Police Raid Atlanta Forest After ‘Cop City’ Opponents Overrun Security Post (March 5, 2023)
- ‘Stop Cop City’ Week of Action Begins in Atlanta (March 4, 2023)
- ‘Tortuguita Vive’: A No-Compromise Movement Responds to Police Killing a Forest Defender (February 27, 2023)
- Atlanta Activists Say Prosecutors Plan to Indict them on RICO Charges (February 25, 2023)
- ‘Community’ Committee Cheers Police Violence as Authorities Repress Resistance to ‘Cop City’ (February 24, 2023)
- Supporters of ‘Cop City’ Opponents Rally in Philly (February 24, 2023)
- Minneapolis March Connects Roof Depot Demolition Resistance to the Atlanta Forest (February 21, 2023)
- Atlanta PD Releases Bodycam Footage from Deadly Jan. 18 Forest Raid (February 8, 2023)
- Manuel ‘Tortuguita’ Terán’s Family Seeks Transparency in Police Killing (February 7, 2023)
- City of Atlanta and DeKalb County Announce ‘Agreement’ Amid Growing Opposition to Cop City (January 31, 2023)
- Marches and Vigils Across the US Respond to the Police Killing of Forest Defender Tort (January 22, 2023)
- Protester Shot and Killed by Officers During Raid on Atlanta Forest (January 18, 2023)
- Blackhall Intensifies Destruction of Weelaunee People’s Park in Atlanta Forest (January 16, 2023)
- SWAT Teams Attack Atlanta Forest Encampments, Activists Charged with ‘Terrorism’ (December 18, 2022)
- [Mini Doc] Defending the Atlanta Forest: Behind the Movement to Stop Cop City (Oct. 9, 2022)
- “Cop City” General Contractors’ Offices Attacked (May 19, 2022)
- Police Raid Atlanta Forest Occupation (May 18, 2022)
- Atlanta Fights to Save Its Forest (May 14, 2022)
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