We Stand in Solidarity with All Stop Cop City Defendants
Since 2022, more than 100 people have been arrested on trumped up charges of domestic terrorism, arson, money laundering, charity fraud, and trespass, among others.
On August 29, Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr indicted sixty-one people under Georgia’s Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act. This is a clear effort by the state to silence dissent, and all those facing charges need our strong support!
Overview of RICO and Other Cop City-Related Charges
Since spring 2021, a grassroots movement in Atlanta has prevented construction for what would become the largest police training facility in the US. The Atlanta Police Foundation (APF) seeks to turn 300 acres of the Weelaunee forest into a tactical training compound, featuring a mock city, with the intention of further militarizing the US police force. Another 170 acres of forest are being threatened by a film production company, Shadowbox Studios, which plans to turn the adjacent Intrenchment Creek Park into the largest movie soundstage complex in the US. This model of police training is not an issue that only affects the Atlanta community, as this is a design ready to be utilized nationwide by leaders of many cities, endorsing their development with corporate backing.
Residents have opposed this project by every means possible, utilizing student walk-outs, speak-outs at City Hall, marches, sabotage, and over a year-long encampment inside the forest. More than 116,000 Atlantans signed a referendum petition that would put Cop City on the ballot which is more than the number of people who voted in the last primary election cycle and double the amount of what is needed to put a referendum on a ballot. The city is doing everything they can to block the referendum. Cop City’s contractors and funders all over the country have been pressured by protesters to drop their contracts and divest from the project. Because the movement has built serious power in defense of the earth and in resistance to policing, it is facing unprecedented repression. People in power in Atlanta are getting away with abandoning democratic processes, disenfranchising Black, Brown, and low-income people through voter suppression efforts, and enforcing legal action against anyone opposing Cop City.
Protesters occupying the Weelaunee forest to prevent deforestation and general Cop City development have faced police brutality. On January 18, 2023, during a multi-agency police raid into the Weelaunee forest, police shot and killed Manuel “Tortuguita” Terán. An autopsy revealed that Tortuguita’s hands were raised when they were murdered by the police, and that they were seated cross-legged.
In an effort to criminalize the Stop Cop City movement, the state has arrested over 100 people on fabricated charges related to the movement. Forty-one have been arrested on domestic terrorism charges for simply being in the forest or being at a protest. The local nonprofit bail fund, which has provided support to people arrested at protests over the last decade, faces money laundering and charity fraud charges. In September 2023, Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr indicted 61 people on state RICO charges, and they are being tried in Fulton County. More recently, local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies have raided the homes of Atlanta residents and harassed those they believe to be affiliated with the movement to defend the Weelaunee forest.
We cannot let the State of Georgia criminalize the people who are bravely practicing their constitutional right to protest, protecting the environment and land of Indigenous people, and demanding that the state follow legal protocol when developing within the Atlanta community.
We Demand that All Charges Be Dropped
We are calling on Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr, and prosecutors in other states where Cop City opponents face repression, including Arizona, South Carolina, Oregon, New York and elsewhere, to:
- Drop all charges against Cop City protesters, including the RICO charges filed against 61 brave souls, as well as charges of domestic terrorism, arson, and money laundering
- Stop the pursuit of pending charges against any Cop City protester arrested since 2021
Sign on
Sign on to this Statement of Solidarity with those being criminalized for opposing the construction of Cop City.
To add your organization to the list of endorsers, email: [email protected].
Ways to Support Defendants
- Share this statement of solidarity with your community
- Organize bail funds, benefit shows, and local solidarity actions where you live
- Donate here to support legal costs for arrested protesters and ongoing legal action
Endorsements
- National Lawyers Guild
- National Lawyers Guild – San Francisco / Bay Area Chapter (San Francisco, CA)
- Agência de Notícias Anarquistas – ANA (Brasil)
- SURJ (Showing Up for Racial Justice) (Marin, CA)
- Yes We Cannibal (Baton Rogue, LA)
- Communities United Against Police Brutality (CUAPB) (Minneapolis, MN)
- Black Mosquito (Germany)
- 350Brooklyn (Brooklyn, NY)
- Central Ohio Revolutionary Socialists (Columbus, Ohio)
- Pittsburgh Democratic Socialists of America (PA)
- Canadian Socialist Rifle Association (Canada)
- North Georgia Chapter of the Socialist Rifle Association (Atlanta, GA)
- 350New Hampshire Action (NH)
- Neighborhood Anarchist Collective (Eugene, OR)
- NorCal Resist (Sacramento, CA)
- Ratzon Center for Healing and Resistance (Pittsburgh, PA)
- Oakland Abolition and Solidarity (CA)
- Mountain Area Abortion Doula Collective (NC)
- Global Women’s Strike (GWS) (Los Angeles, CA)
- Women of Color – Global Women’s Strike (Philadelphia, PA)
- Payday Men’s Network (Philadelphia, PA)
- Autonom Organisering (Sweden)
- Degrowth.info Collective (International)
- Animal Activism Mentorship
- Seitanic Jax (Jacksonville, FL)
- Atlanta Antifascists (Atlanta, GA)
- Unity and Struggle
- PeaceWorks (Brunswick, ME)
- ItsGoingDown.org
- Network in Solidarity with the People of Guatemala (NISGUA)
- Rogue Climate (OR)
- Community Not Cages (Winona, MN)
- Sunrise Movement Pittsburgh (PA)
- Charlotte, NC Chapter of the Socialist Rifle Association
- InterReligious Task Force on Central America
- Antidote Writers Collective
- Direct Action Drumline and Distro (San Diego, CA)
- Scientist Rebellion Turtle Island (US and Canada)
- Seattle Democratic Socialist of America (WA)
- Anarchistic Group Dortmund (Germany)
- Serve the People Akron (OH)
- Friend of a Friend NYC (NY)
- Sunrise Movement (Bowling Green, KY)
- Feminist Bird Club of Tucson (AZ)
- East Bay Prisoner Support (CA)
- Scientist Rebellion Turtle Island (US and Canada)
- Leinemasch BLEIBT (Hannover, Germany)
- Ende Gelände (Germany)
- Stop Cop City Dallas (TX)
- Stop Cop City GT (GA)
- Michigan Solidarity Bail Fund (MI)
- Celebrate845 (Hudson Valley, NY)
- We Do Politics (Nashville, TN)
- Southside Environmental Justice Alliance (South Fulton, GA)
- InterReligious Task Force on Central America and Colombia (Cleveland, Ohio)
- Sick and Disabled Craft and Zine Fair (SadFair.com)
- Trans Resistance Action Committee (TRAC)
- JULIAN (JulianFreedom.com) (MS)
- subMedia (sub.media)
- Kolektiva (kolektiva.social)
- Neurodivergent Youth Artists Collective (nyacproject.wixsite.com)
- Kangalee Arts Ensemble, Inc (dennisleroykangalee.com)
- Certain Days – Freedom for Political Prisoners & Prisoners of War Calendar collective (USA, Canada)
- Agency (anarchistagency.com)
- Survival Resistance in Mvskoke Land (Atlanta, GA)
- Earth Equity (EarthEquity.eco)
- Blue Ridge ABC
- The Final Straw Radio
- UAW Labor for Palestine (Region 9A)
- Abolitionist Working Group of the Madison Area DSA (Madison, WI)
- Central Florida Mutual Aid (FL)
- Beautiful Trouble (BeautifulTrouble.org)
- Sane Energy Project (located on occupied Munsee Lenape Canarsie land)
- Metropolitan Anarchist Coordinating Council (MACC) (New York, NY)
- Gainesville-area Action for Environmental Justice (FL)
- Palm Beach County Environmental Coalition (FL)
- Fight Toxic Prisons (FightToxicPrisons.wordpress.com)
- Sabal Trail Resistance (FL)
- Save Uplands NCF (FL)
- Civil Liberties Defense Center (CLDC.org)
- The Sparrow Project (SparrowMedia.net)
- Jericho Movement for Amnesty for Political Prisoners & POWs (TheJerichoMovement.com)
- The New Abolitionist Movement (NY)
- PM Press (PMPress.org)
- Sunrise American University (Washington D.C.)
- PDX Queer Death Collective (PDXqdc.org)
- Mergoat Magazine (Mergoat.com)
- Atlanta Grandmothers for Peace (GA)
- National Lawyers Guild Chicago (IL)
- Coalition for Civil Freedoms (Washington D.C.)
- Oakland Chapter of the Jericho Movement (TheJerichoMovement.com)
- anarkism.info (Sweden)
- Judi’s Midnight Diner (Medford, OR)