Georgia’s Dekalb County is the site of the following: Police in Atlanta have declared a state of ‘high alert,’ saying they are aware of calls to violence from those who are sympathetic to the family of a protester who was killed by police at the site of a proposed police training facility.
On Wednesday, 26-year-old Manuel Esteban Paez Teran was shot and killed by a Georgia State Patrol trooper during a clearing raid in the woods that protesters had occupied for months. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation claims that Teran opened fire on law enforcement officers without giving them any advance warning.
The trooper’s identity is being withheld for his own safety, but GSP reports that he is stable following surgery.
As word of the shooting spread, flyers calling for a “night of rage” and violent retaliation on Friday night began to circulate. The flyers threatened violence but gave no indication of where it would occur.
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Authorities Issued A Statement Late Thursday Night Reading
Officers are on high alert, and we won’t stop working to make sure everyone who uses our streets feels safe doing so. We continue to work closely with state, county, and federal law enforcement agencies to ensure that all neighbourhoods in the city are as secure as they can be.
For months now, protesters have taken over one of Atlanta’s oldest urban forests in an effort to voice their disapproval of the APD’s training facility. While some worry that the facility will increase police brutality, others worry that it will harm the environment.
GBI Director Mike Register and other city officials have said the new training facility will help them train police to be more effective in their work.
Overnight following Teran’s death, seven protesters were arrested on domestic terrorism charges. No one in the group of seven was from the Atlanta area.
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A blow torch, gas masks, pellet rifles, multiple knives, and mortar-style fireworks were all discovered by agents at the camps. Thanks to their cooperation, three individuals were able to leave the scene without being arrested.
On Wednesday, GBI Director Mike Register Said, “There’s A Difference Between Protests And What’s Happening There”
On Thursday, he reported that while the clearing operations had succeeded in removing many of the tree-sitting protesters, more might remain.
There was “hope” that they had left by yesterday, Register said, but “I do know they still have activity out there because there is still a law enforcement presence there.”
He calculated that the total property site for the future training facility is 300 acres and that it will continue to be difficult to secure the entire site in the face of resistance.
We’re conducting a thorough investigation into the goings-on in the area with the help of our local, federal, and other state partners, he said.
To date, seven suspects have been apprehended in connection with the most recent operations, with all of them facing domestic terrorism charges and several also facing aggravated assault charges.
Last month, after clearing operations, seven people were arrested on similar charges of domestic terrorism. Early defendants have mostly been released on bond, with strict instructions not to return to the site or have any further contact with the protest movement.
Register claimed that law enforcement officials returned to the scene on Thursday. Plans for clearing out the encampments and completely securing the training facility site will be discussed in greater detail at a meeting next week, according to the GBI director.
The GBI Is Investigating
A group called Defend the Atlanta Forest, which is against the training centre plans, disputed the GBI’s version of events, saying, “Police killed a forest defender today, someone, who loved the forest, someone who fought to protect the earth & its inhabitants.” This is why we have to unite to defeat Cop City. We will, too.
It was claimed by the group that the operation was part of a “pattern of police directly threatening the lives of protestors and moving through the woods with drawn weapons, which has occurred intermittently over the last 8 months.”
There was no actual exchange of fire, but rather, the group claimed, its ground sources heard 12 consecutive “rapid fire” shots.
“We know there is no history of protestors shooting firearms at police in this movement thus far,” the statement read. “However, there is a significant pattern of police acting jumpily, making verbal threats, and pointing firearms at people they encounter in the woods.”
The GBI has been reached for comment by NBC News. A tweet from the Atlanta Solidarity Fund, which helps protesters in legal trouble, read: “We are preparing a legal team to investigate and pursue a wrongful death suit.”
According to Register, the training centre has been the target of “growing criminal behaviour and terroristic acts” from those opposed to the Atlanta government’s $90 million public safety campaign.
Final Words
Arson, assault, intimidation, the use of explosives, and booby traps with the potential to cause severe injury were all mentioned as examples.
According to the GBI, five individuals were arrested and charged with domestic terrorism last month for attacking emergency medical technicians with rocks and bottles outside fire stations near the proposed site.
After discovering squatters living in treehouses, police made several arrests. After clearing out the area, the GBI reported finding explosive devices, gasoline, and road flares.
