Major human rights and press freedom groups have signed onto a letter calling for dismissal of domestic terrorism charges against protesters of Atlanta’s public safety training center.
Tag: Protests
Posted inLatest News
Land-swap lawsuit defendant seeks documents from media and activists, raising First Amendment objections
Attorneys for the developer sued for a DeKalb County parkland swap have demanded extensive internal documents from media and activists, raising First Amendment objections.
Posted inLatest News
Training center protester killed by police is named; seven others charged with terrorism
The protester killed by police has been identified and seven others charged with domestic terrorism.
Posted inLatest News
Training center protester killed by police after shooting state trooper, GBI says
Both law enforcement officials and protesters say the gunfire is an example of the violence of the other side that drives their actions.
Posted inLatest News
Driver arrested for filming police claims to be journalist, considers lawsuit
The man controversially arrested while filming police from a car at Atlanta’s public safety training center last month claims he was working as a journalist. The police claim he was performing “countersurveillance” for an “extremist group.”
Posted inColumns, John Ruch
A model airplane club defends the Atlanta forest, but is targeted by destructive protests
As controversy over the “Defend the Atlanta Forest” protest movement escalates into terrorism charges and civil liberties infringements, you’d be forgiven for having no idea that a big piece of it revolves around model airplanes.
Posted inLatest News
APD opens internal investigation into journalist’s detention during training center protest coverage
The Atlanta Police Department is investigating its detention of a protest-documenting journalist that civil rights attorneys say violated the First Amendment.
Posted inColumns, John Ruch
Protester terrorism charges come amid legal battle over other arrests of demonstrators, journalists
By John Ruch Concerns about biased policing of public safety training center protests sparked by remarks from the Atlanta Police Department’s (APD) second-in-command fit into a bigger picture that includes a pending lawsuit alleging illegal arrests of protesters and targeting at least two journalists documenting them. The lawsuit’s allegations include retaliatory arrests for engaging in […]
Posted inLatest News
APD official reveals 12 arrested in protest raids, describes use of terrorism charges
A total of 12 protesters were arrested in raids at Atlanta’s public safety training center site and adjacent forest that were previously publicized for five terrorism charges, a top Atlanta Police Department (APD) official has revealed while commenting on their tactics.
Posted inLatest News
Five charged with domestic terrorism in public safety training center site raid
Five people are charged with domestic terrorism and other offenses after a police raid targeting protesters at the site of Atlanta’s controversial public safety training center.
Posted inLatest News
Molotov cocktails, fallen trees used by training center and land swap protesters, police say
Molotov cocktails and felled trees were among criminal tactics used last month in the destructive side of protests against Atlanta’s public safety training center and a DeKalb County parkland swap, police say.
Posted inColumns, John Ruch
With a new General Assembly elected, beware of bills assaulting the First Amendment
With a newly elected Georgia General Assembly set to meet in January, it’s not too early to start warning it away from the kind of First Amendment assault we saw in last year’s session.
Posted inLatest News
Public safety training center protests are followed by arrests, advisory group meeting cancellation
Several days of intensified protests against Atlanta’s controversial public safety training center culminated May 17 in several trespassing arrests at the site and the no-notice cancellation of a community review committee’s meeting.
Posted inLatest News
Atlanta police arrest racial justice activists for “obstructing traffic” after Trump fans wreak havoc across nation
Just hours after a violent mob of pro-Trump activists stormed the nation’s capitol, and after a pro-Trump militia’s presence forced Georgia secretary of state Brad Raffensperger to evacuate the downtown Atlanta statehouse, Atlanta police arrested nearly two dozen racial justice activists for demonstrating on city streets.
Posted inColumns
Confederate monuments: A chance to reassess the past with perspective of today
Calls to remove Confederate memorials in Atlanta coincide with a June 12 court order for the removal of the Confederate obelisk in Decatur. A similar debate – in 1870 – kept such a monument out of Five Points and in placed, instead, in Oakland Cemetery.
Posted inLatest News
Community development in era of social reform amid pandemic, police actions
“This is a sad day. We have another name to add to the roles. His name is Rayshard Brooks…. Another unarmed black man shot by police.” With these words, a Saturday morning virtual conversation about community development grew into one about effecting sweeping social change.
Posted inColumns
Atlanta to review police use-of-force policy, other cities face calls to defund police
“I refuse to be another hashtag.” The spirit of this message on a placard is driving efforts across the country to defund police departments or to reform police practices. Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms has set a June 18 deadline for recommendations to reform the city’s use-of-force policy, adopted in 2018.
Posted inLatest News
Anti-Trump protests cost Atlanta taxpayers up to $16 million for public safety
Atlanta taxpayers will pay up to $16 million for public safety services provided during protests in January against President Trump’s inauguration and his travel ban directed at seven Muslim-majority countries, Atlanta’s budget chief said Wednesday.
