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      Cop City protest

      Resistance to Atlanta's Cop City Is Rising

      A week of action in Atlanta this March showcases widespread opposition to a planned police training center, which would be the largest in the nation. An organizer explains what's at stake.

      Sonali Kolhatkar
      Mar 11, 2023

      Atlanta is a city built inside a forest, one that Indigenous Muscogee people call the Weelaunee Forest. In recent years, the Atlanta Police Foundation, a private nonprofit organization, has led an effort to build what would be the nation’s largest police training center on hundreds of acres of that forest land. The move sparked the creation of a broad coalition to protest the project, some opposed to forest destruction and others against police expansion. Together, these organizers are calling on Atlanta’s mayor, Andre Dickens, and the city council to “Stop Cop City.”

      Authorities have cracked down on the protests with mass arrests and, in some cases, are charging organizers with domestic terrorism. In January 2023, police raided an area where protesters were camping in the Weelaunee Forest, killing an environmental justice protester named Tortuguita.

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      Opinion
      cop city
      Manuel "Tortuguita" Esteban Paez Terán was shot and killed by police outside Atlanta, Georgia on January 18, 2022.

      Family of Forest Defender Killed by Police Demands Answers

      "I do not understand why they will not even privately explain to us what happened to our child," said the mother of Manuel Esteban Paez Terán.

      Kenny Stancil
      Feb 06, 2023

      Family members of climate activist Manuel Esteban Paez Terán are demanding answers regarding the January 18 police killing of their 26-year-old relative, commonly known as "Tortuguita."

      At a press conference held Monday morning outside the DeKalb County courthouse in suburban Atlanta, family members and lawyers discussed the results of a private autopsy and demanded access to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation's (GBI) full record of events amid its ongoing probe.

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      An abandoned protest campsite is seen inside Weelaunee People's Park days after protester Manuel Teran was kiled during a police raid

      Deadly Violence Against Protesters Is the New Normal

      When it comes to deadly force, the doctrine of qualified immunity, recently reaffirmed by the courts, means an officer can effectively shoot to kill without consequences.

      Michael Gould-Wartofsky
      Feb 03, 2023

      On the morning of January 18, agents from nine agencies, including the FBI and its local counterpart, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, descended on a section of Atlanta’s South River Forest occupied by activists. For the past two years, hundreds had lived in the section of the Weelaunee forest, in tents and treehouses, in order to block its planned conversion into a police training facility—a “cop city” complete with a mock village, firing ranges, and a Black Hawk landing pad. That morning, the agents were under orders to “eliminate the future Atlanta Public Safety Training Center of criminal activity.”

      It is still unclear why the task force opened fire. But after twelve shots rang out, Manuel Esteban Paez Terán, known as Tortuguita (or “Little Turtle”), a young, trans forest defender of Afro-Venezuelan and Indigenous ancestry, had been hit and killed.

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      Opinion
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