FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: March 12, 2023
#StopCopCity Week of Action Ends With Disruption of Hawks Game
Community Movement Builders, local residents disrupt Hawks Game to pressure Mayor Andre Dickens to terminate lease of Weelaunee Forest to Atlanta Police Foundation and stop development of Cop City
ATLANTA, GA — Last Night, local Atlanta activists disrupted the Atlanta Hawks basketball game demanding the end of Cop City as a part of the National Week of Action in solidarity with Atlanta to #StopCopCity.
The call for a national week of action came after weeks of uprisings in response to the murder of forest defender Manuel “Tortuguita” Paez Terán, and the countless aggressive interactions by law enforcement to push people out of the forest in order to begin the development of Cop City.
“We think the people of Atlanta need to know how Steve Koonin, the owner of the Atlanta Hawks, is supporting a war against the Black community,” said Jasmine Burnett, lead organizer for Community Movement Builders. “Koonin sits on the board of the Atlanta Police Foundation, the architect and private funders of Cop City,” continued Burnett. “As Black Atlantans, we denounce any institution that profits from our culture and talent while funding and designing more ways for the police to terrorize us.”
Local Atlanta Community Organizations demand Mayor Dickens cancel the Cop City lease with Atlanta Police Foundation, an immediate dropping of domestic terrorism charges for Cop City protesters, an independent investigation into the death forest defender Tortiguita, and an investment in the real material needs of poor, working-class Atlantans who are suffering from an inflation crisis, housing crisis, and a climate crisis.
“To be clear—cop city is not just a controversial training center,” said Kwame Olufemi of Community Movement Builders. “It is a war base where police will learn military-like maneuvers to kill black people and control our bodies and movements,” continued Olufemi. “The facility includes shooting ranges, plans for bomb testing, and will practice tear gas deployment. They are practicing how to make sure poor and working-class people stay in line. So when the police kill us in the streets again, as they did to Rayshard Brooks in 2020, they can control our protests and community response to how they continually murder our people.”
Activists shared flyers calling on the mayor to pull the lease, as well as chanting during the 3rd quarter demanding the stop to Cop City. This is the last day of the week of action, which has seen peaceful actions all week from various local community members, Indigenous communities, and clergy.
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