APD Attacks Crowd after Leaving Protest at Cadence Bank, One Arrested, Two Detained

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: June 28, 2023

APD Attacks Crowd after Leaving Protest at Cadence Bank, One Arrested, Two Detained

ATLANTA, GA — Today, one forest defender was arrested and two were detained after about twenty-five people gathered outside a Cadence Bank building in Atlanta protesting their loan to the Atlanta Police Foundation fund Cop City. After 10-15 minutes, the group decided to end their demonstration and head home as a group. As forest defenders were departing the noise demonstration, dozens of Atlanta Police Department (APD) officers followed on foot and on the road, including several officers documented in other recent instances of police aggression towards the movement, some armed with long guns and zip ties, chasing the crowd and catching anyone who couldn’t outrun them. Two people have been released after detainment, while one remains in jail with unknown charges.

Per eyewitness accounts, it is very clear that no property damage nor any remotely criminal activity is could have occurred, which has been confirmed by eyewitness video footage. Below are two accounts of the police aggression from activists at this demonstration:

“Dozens of APD officers showed their allegiance to private property as they blocked the doors to the building and acted as personal security for executives before chasing down and violently arresting three protesters who had already left the site,” said Jasmine Burnett, an organizer with Community Movement Builders. “These actions show how desperate the state is to suppress our movement and the urgency we must have in fighting back.”

“Concerned citizens went to Cadence Bank to urge them not to service a loan to the Atlanta Police Foundation to build Cop City,” continued Burnett. “The demonstrators were met with a wall of resistance from Atlanta Police and private security. Yet again, Atlanta’s corporate and private interests used working class Black People as the front line to silence opposition of a project that Atlanta does not want. In this case, Black Police officers were called on to shut down a completely peaceful protest at a bank that would probably never have given Black folks a loan but will support a project that puts Black Communities in danger. As we left, the group was stalked by dozens of police officers who grabbed people. One officer attempted to throw me down, ripping my shirt in the process, despite breaking no laws or harming anyone.”

“Let’s make no mistake about it, the private interests and law enforcement will stop at nothing to repress dissent in ANY of its many forms,” said Rev. Matthew Johnson of Beloved Community Ministries. “They are in no moral position to tell us the right way to protest, because they are the ones who use violence indiscriminately,” continued Rev. Johnson. “They are making it abundantly clear what they are being trained to do: stop any resistance to a country that continues to create laws that benefit few and endanger marginalized communities. The people must stand up to Stop Cop City for a world future worth living in.”

The rest of the Week of Action events are continuing today in Brownwood Park and elsewhere, with teach-ins, parties, marches, and a free food distribution. There is a march at Gresham Park today at 6PM that is continuing as planned. Despite attempts by APD to change reality, Cop City will never be built.

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