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.
5 charged with domestic terrorism
Late last year, officers arrested and charged five people with domestic terrorism and other charges at the site. DeKalb County District Attorney Sherry Boston said the arrests stemmed from “violent acts and trespassing.”
There have been “more than four dozen instances of violent protests” at the site, including the destruction of equipment and the physical intimidation of workers, the Atlanta Police Foundation said late last year.
“Nearly 50 people have been arrested for trespassing and throwing Molotov cocktails at police officers and construction workers,” the foundation said.
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