November 2024
Body Cam Footage Shows Atlanta Cop Knew Felony Charges Against Cop City Protesters Were ‘a Reach’ by Joe Lancaster, Reason.
In bodycam footage, the police major—now the deputy chief—asks for “anything we can get” after being told felony charges would be difficult.
October 2024
The Atlanta City Council Is Scared of Direct Democracy by Maria Esch, Jacobin.
Atlanta residents want to vote directly on the proposed police training facility known as Cop City. But the campaign to decide the issue by referendum has faced major backlash from the city government, including several instances of outright sabotage.
New Jury Ordered In ‘Cop City’ Trial Over Court Closure by Chart Riggall, Law360.
A defendant in the sprawling, 61-person racketeering indictment of protesters against Atlanta’s controversial “Cop City” police training center will get another shot at jury selection after the Georgia Court of Appeals said Monday that a Fulton County trial judge unjustifiably closed her courtroom to the public and the press.
Georgia officials ‘blatantly violated’ rights in Cop City case, say protesters by Timothy Pratt, The Guardian.
Recent testimony reveals police seized papers in apparent violation of terms of a court-ordered search warrant.
The State Is Wielding Grand Jury Subpoenas Against Cop City Activists by Cody Bloomfield, Truthout.
Activists organizing against the militarized police training facility in Atlanta are facing new forms of repression.
Cop Cities Meet Growing Resistance Nationwide by Victoria Valenzuela, Yes! Magazine.
The influx of these facilities parallels the emergence of the Defund the Police movement, which—following the murder of George Floyd in 2020—saw thousands of people across the country mobilize to decry police violence against Black and Brown communities. Within the last five years, there has been a quiet rollout of more than 80 multi-million dollar Cop City-like facilities across the country.
The ALT 61: Teresa Shen by Atlanta Community Press Collective.
This is Teresa Shen—an abolitionist from New York City and one of sixty-one people charged by the Georgia Attorney General’s office for an alleged racketeering conspiracy borne out of a multi-year protest movement against a police training center known as Cop City being built in a forest just outside of Atlanta.
September 2024
Georgia’s repressive tactics unravel as money laundering charges dropped in ‘Stop Cop City’ case by Fight Back! News.
In a surprising but significant turn of events, on September 24, Georgia prosecutors have dropped all 15 counts of money laundering against three prominent activists involved in the “Stop Cop City” movement.
Georgia A.G. Drops Frivolous Money Laundering Charges Against Cop City Bail Fund by Joe Lancaster, Reason.
The three defendants remain under indictment for racketeering, along with 58 others.
Money-laundering charges dropped against bail fund in Cop City protest case by Timothy Pratt, The Guardian.
Atlanta Solidarity Fund’s members still face racketeering charges in case about protest against police training center.
A year later, call for referendum on Atlanta police training center in legal limbo by Riley Bunch, Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Nine months after hearing oral arguments, a federal appeals court has yet to rule on pending litigation that will help determine which petition signatures are valid.
5 things to know about Atlanta police training center petition drive by Dan Klepal, Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
It’s been one year since opponents of Atlanta’s public safety training center submitted tens of thousands of signatures to the city clerk, in an attempt to force a referendum on whether the massive facility should be built with the help of public money in the South River Forest.
August 2024
Beyond Cop Cities: Dismantling State and Corporate-Funded Armies and Prisons by Margaret Kimberley, Black Agenda Radio.
Black Agenda Radio hosts Joy James, Ebenezer Fitch Professor of the Humanities at Williams College and Kalonji Changa, co-founder of Black Power Media and host of a program on the YouTube channel RSTv. Joy James is the editor and Kalonji Changa is the co-author of the new book Beyond Cop Cities: Dismantling State and Corporate-Funded Armies and Prisons (Pluto Press), which examines militarized policing represented by the phenomenon of Cop Cities, militarized police facilities that are springing up across the country.
Fulton County Judge Criticizes Georgia AG’s Office for “Gross Negligence” in “Cop City” Email Breach by Chris Allen Thompson, Hoodline.
In an unfolding legal drama originating from Atlanta, Fulton County Judge Kimberly Esmond Adams issued a stern reproach towards the Georgia Attorney General’s Office [accusing] them of “gross negligence” for the mishandling of confidential emails in the case against activists protesting the planned “Cop City” police training center.
July 2024
Internal Atlanta Police Records Reveal Monitoring of ‘Cop City’ Opponents’ Political Activity by Spencer Reynolds and José Guillermo Gutiérrez, Brennan Center for Justice.
The documents show inappropriate police surveillance of social media posts about pizza nights and study groups.
No Atlanta Way: Stop Cop City Meets the Establishment by Sam Worley, The Drift.
Two years in a row, on the very same day, police descended on the campus of Emory University, an elite private school on the leafy eastern edges of Atlanta. In the spring of 2023, students staked tents on the university’s quad, agitating against the construction of a controversial police training center in a forest south of Atlanta.
After pressure, Georgia attorney general in Cop City case responds to motions by Timothy Pratt, The Guardian.
[Deputy AG] John Fowler schedules forest visits for Rico defense lawyers but continues to claim ignorance on privileged emails.
Georgia accused of stopping defense lawyers visiting ‘Cop City’ protest site by Timothy Pratt, The Guardian.
Dozens charged with conspiracy in South River Forest but court filing says state is obstructing attorney visits.
Federal judge in Georgia blocks ‘most severe’ law on bail fund restrictions by Timothy Pratt, The Guardian.
Lawsuit challenges law as unconstitutional, meant to target fund helping Cop City protestors.
June 2024
Stop Cop City Protesters Are Facing Felony Charges As Atlanta Authorities Crack Down by Jamila Osman, Teen Vogue.
United States of Suppression is a series documenting the recent crackdown on dissent and protests in the U.S.
Petition aims to dismiss Atlanta’s bid to use Rico law against ‘Cop City’ activists by Timothy Pratt, The Guardian.
Motion filed claims Georgia’s deputy attorney general violated attorney-client privileges of multiple defendants.
Attorney asks AG’s Office be removed from prosecuting training center RICO case by Jozsef Papp, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Attorneys for three defendants who oppose the construction of Atlanta’s planned public safety training center have filed a motion seeking to disqualify the Attorney General’s Office from prosecuting the RICO case, alleging that attorney-client privileged information was accessed and distributed.
Fulton County Judge Under Fire in RICO Case by Nick Mordowanec, Newsweek.
Oral arguments in another Fulton County RICO case, described by defendants’ advocates to Newsweek as part of “sham” proceedings, are scheduled to begin Tuesday.
May 2024
How to Criminalize a Protest by Zak Cheney-Rice, New York Magazine.
In Atlanta, the George Floyd demonstrators are being prosecuted as gang members. The activists of today could be next.
The Criminalization of Solidarity: The Stop Cop City Prosecutions by Tadhg Larabee and Eva Rosenfeld, Dissent Magazine.
Georgia’s sweeping and political application of conspiracy law echoes a tactic that shattered the left roughly a hundred years ago, when the U.S. government targeted socialist parties and militant unions with laws against criminal syndicalism, espionage, and sedition.
Police Escalate Harassment of South Atlanta Residents Living Near ‘Cop City’ Construction Site by Staff, Mainline.
Police harassment and surveillance has continued on the heels of the February raids, wherein multiple police agencies, including the FBI, raided three residential homes in South Atlanta
Georgia claims police not using Signal to message about ‘Cop City’, despite evidence to contrary by Timothy Pratt, The Guardian.
Defense attorney in conspiracy case cites Guardian reporting in seeking police messages on activists opposed to training center.
April 2024
Police allegedly use rubber bullets and teargas at university protest in Georgia by Timothy Pratt, The Guardian.
Multiple arrests at crackdown on Emory University campus encampment focused on Palestine and Cop City.
The Cop City Defendants Are Done Being Silent by Oliver Haug, The Nation.
Sixty-one people are facing RICO charges from the state of Georgia for their activism. Here’s what some of them have to say about their case.
Georgia uses ‘political fear-mongering’ in efforts to charge Cop City protesters, by Timothy Pratt, The Guardian.
State and federal authorities attempt to prosecute residents linked to movement against police and fire department training center.
March 2024
Atlanta Police Foundation ignored Cop City records requests, lawsuit claims by Timothy Pratt, The Guardian.
University of Georgia filed complaint on behalf of news outlet and transparency research organization, saying queries unanswered.
Protestors gather at Atlanta mayor’s home over ‘Cop City’ referendum by Nolan Huber-Rhoades and Lorin Dent, Atlanta Community Press Collective.
Friday morning, around 20 Black women and femmes protested outside the Collier Heights home of Mayor Andre Dickens. Wearing all white despite the rain, the group demanded that Mayor Dickens drop the City of Atlanta’s court appeal against the referendum that would put the ‘Cop City’ project up for a city-wide vote.
February 2024
‘Cop City’ Prosecutions Hinge on a New Definition of Domestic Terrorism by Sean Keenan and Rick Rojas, The New York Times.
Are the protesters against a new police training center part of a violent “extremist organization,” or are the serious charges they face a means of stifling free speech?
Stop Cop City goes West: activists kick off Tucson summit by Sam Barnes, Atlanta Community Press Collective.
Approximately 150 organizers and activists opposed to the construction of the Atlanta Public Safety Training Center, more commonly known as Cop City, kicked off a four-day summit in Tucson Friday afternoon.
Faced with ‘Cop City’ Referendum Push, Atlanta Changes Up Its Election Rules by Piper French, Bolts.
In an 11th-hour change, Atlanta approved new rules for citizen-led petitions to include signature matching—a practice decried by Cop City protesters and voting rights advocates.
Federal and State Police Raid Three Homes in Atlanta Leading to One Arrest Amid ‘Cop City’ Investigation by Sean Summers, Unicorn Riot.
Stopping the Cop Cities Countrywide by CrimethInc.
All across the United States, governments are allocating hundreds of millions of dollars to build new police militarization facilities, seeking to expand the repressive capabilities of the police and pouring more money into the pockets of their allies.
January 2024
Georgia GOP Proposes RICO Expansion for “Loitering” Protesters by Natasha Lennard, The Intercept.
In a bid to repress movements like Stop Cop City, the far right wants enhanced penalties based on “political affiliation or belief.”
December 2024
November 2023
The Mass ‘Cop City’ Arraignments Were an Absurd Circus by Hannah Riley, The Appeal.
Georgia prosecutors have launched a first-of-its-kind racketeering case against 61 people, ranging from visitors arrested at a music festival to bail fund organizers. The mass-arraignment on November 6 showed just how much of an insane, unconscionable mess the case really is.
October 2023
September 2023
How Georgia Indicted a Movement by Zohra Ahmed and Elizabeth Taxel, The Nation.
The state’s prosecution of Stop Cop City protesters is astonishingly honest in its ambitions to crush Georgia’s left.
June 2023
‘Cop City’ protest lawyers challenge use of domestic terrorism statute by Timothy Pratt, The Guardian.
Attorneys for protester argue law is unconstitutional restraint on free speech as legal defense fund organizers also arrested
May 2023
April 2023
Behind Georgia’s Authoritarian Crackdown on ‘Stop Cop City’ Protests by Aja Arnold, The Appeal.
At least 42 people have been charged with “domestic terrorism” under the state’s wide-ranging statute. Legal experts are calling it a “sloppy” and unprecedented attack on constitutional rights to free speech and protest.
March 2023
Georgia prosecutors accused of waging ‘judicial pogrom’ against ‘Cop City’ activists by Timothy Pratt, The Guardian.
Protesters face domestic terrorism charges and have been denied bail as experts decry lack of evidence proffered by state.
February 2023
Balance Sheet: Two Years against Cop City by CrimethInc.
Evaluating Strategies, Refining Tactics.
The Forest in the City by CrimethInc.
Two Years of Forest Defense in Atlanta, Georgia.
The Future of American Environmental Protests May Be Unfolding in a Forest Outside Atlanta by Eamon Whalen, Mother Jones.
Deadly violence against environmental protesters could become a reality in the United States.
January 2023
The Crackdown on Cop City Protesters Is So Brutal Because of the Movement’s Success by Natasha Lennard, The Intercept.
One protester was killed by police, 20 were charged under a “domestic terror” law, and Georgia’s governor gave himself broad “emergency” powers.
Little Turtle’s War by David Peisner, The Bitter Southerner.
The shooting death of a protestor at the hands of police feels like both an inevitable outcome of this long battle over Atlanta’s South River Forest and a completely preventable tragedy.
The Strategy of Composition by Hugh Farrell, Ill Will.
From Standing Rock to Lützerath, the struggle to defend the Earth continuously crosses over into the construction of the commune.
December 2022
Clarifications: On the arrest of six young people for “domestic terrorism” by Eunus, Ill Will.
It is a well-known principle, observed by all major theoreticians of modern warfare, that in any long-term conflict the opposing forces will tend to mirror and mimic one another.
September 2022
“Stop the Metaverse, Save the Real World” by Stephanie Wakefield and Glenn Dyer, e-flux Architecture.
For the last two years, a battle has gripped the southern rim of Atlanta.
August 2022
The New Fight Over an Old Forest in Atlanta by Charles Bethea, The New Yorker.
The plans for an enormous police-training center—dubbed Cop City by critics—have ignited interest in one of Atlanta’s largest remaining green spaces.
May 2022
Talking Back: A Preemptive Response to Media Attacks on Defend the Atlanta Forest by It’s Going Down.
A look at the evolving movement to defend the Atlanta Forest and how people can push back on evolving police and media narratives attacking the struggle.
April 2022
The City in the Forest by CrimethInc.
Reinventing Resistance for an Age of Climate Crisis and Police Militarization.
August 2021
A brief history of the Atlanta City Prison Farm by Atlanta Community Press Collective.
The official histories of the Atlanta Prison Farm paint a rosy picture of “respect,” “trust,” “reform,” and “the dignity of work.” But digging deeper reveals a much darker history that the City has not yet reckoned with. And it’s about to be sold and bulldozed by the same government institutions who caused the untold suffering hidden under the site’s surface.