Police Abuse
Joe Lancaster | 11.8.2024 3:28 PM
Authorities in Georgia have dropped felony charges against protesters as bodycam footage apparently shows officers admitting, at the time, that there was no justification for the tougher charge.
As Reason has documented, activists oppose the construction of the Atlanta Public Safety Training Center in a forested area outside the city limits; protesters call the project "Cop City" and use the slogan Stop Cop City as a rallying cry. State and local authorities have cracked down aggressively, hitting more than 60 protesters with charges including racketeering, terrorism, and money laundering.
On July 29, 2022, protesters entered the Convocation Center, a sports arena at Georgia State University (GSU) that was under construction at the time. According to an incident report from the GSU Police Department (GSUPD), witnesses said protesters entered the building, "damag[ed] a few of the walls and some signage," and shouted "Stop Cop City" and "Stop Brasfield [&] Gorrie," a general contracting firm responsible for the construction of both the Convocation Center and the police training facility.
In the report, a GSUPD officer responding to the scene says he "observed a large group of people wearing mainly black and camouflage clothing in front of" the building, yelling at the construction workers........