ATLANTA – The Atlanta Public Safety Training Center dubbed “Cop City” on was set a blaze Sunday evening. FOX 5 Atlanta posted video on its website of a bulldozer and other pieces of equipment on fire as well as a section of grass.
The video also showed a large presence of law enforcement officials, with Georgia State Troopers maneuvering their squad cars to keep people away from the scene.
The facility is in the southeast section of Atlanta where protestors have been clashing with law enforcement officials.
A Molotov cocktail was allegedly thrown, that created the fire.
Protesters have objected to the construction of the new facility. Those who oppose the facility, self-described as “forest defenders,” say “Cop City” will cause an environmentally damaging loss of trees. They also oppose spending so much money on a project that they claim will be used to practice “urban warfare.”
Fox News reported that the City Council approved spending $90 million on the training center in 2021.
Since December, at least 19 people have been arrested and charged with domestic terrorism in connection to protesting the training facility for Atlanta’s police and fire department. The new facility is being constructed on 85 wooded acres in southwestern DeKalb County on the site of a former prison farm.
Six of the 19 arrests came out of a violent riot in downtown Atlanta on Jan. 21 that was sparked by the deadly shooting of 26-year-old environmental activist Manuel Esteban Paez Teran by Georgia State Patrol, which responded to “Cop City” to clear protesters from the site.
Authorities said Teran, who reportedly went by the name Tortuguita and identified as non-binary, shot a trooper in the abdomen before law enforcement officials returned fire and killed Teran.
