** UPDATE **
On Wednesday, May 31, Atlanta police raided a home used by the Atlanta Solidarity Bail Fund, which provides legal support to the “Stop Cop City” land defenders. They arrested three members. The Georgia Bureau of Investigations released a statement, stating they are charged with “money laundering” and “charity fraud.”
Despite the three arrestees being from Georgia, Governor Brian Kemp claims that the “Stop Cop City” protestors have largely been “mostly out-of-state activists,” who have “facilitated and encouraged domestic terrorism.” He has promised to “track down every member of a criminal organization.”
Local activists consider this a “major escalation.” They are concerned the Solidarity Fund arrestees will face RICO charges – which are typically used for people engaged in “organized crime.”
The Atlanta Community Press Collective tweeted that “Collective bail funds have existed since the dawn of the civil rights movement. When Dr. King was held in Birmingham Jail, churches and community groups including the NAACP came together to fund his $4000 bail - the equivalent of $39,000 today.”
The National Bail Fund has begun to organize support for the arrestees, and a demonstration is planned for tonight, outside of the Dekalb County Jail.
Content Warning: Gun Violence, Death, Police Brutality
Over the past 11 years, at least 1733 land defenders have been killed worldwide while fighting to protect the land. Berta Cáceres was shot in 2021 while protesting a hydroelectric dam project in Honduras. José Santos Isaac Chávez was tortured and murdered in Mexico while opposing a mine. Manuel Esteban Paez Terán (they/them) was shot at least 57 times by law enforcement while sitting in a tent with their hands in the air. They were protesting the expansion of police violence and environmental destruction at a protest encampment called “Stop Cop City,” outside of Atlanta, Georgia.
Terán was known to their friends and comrades as “Tortuguita.” They were Venezuelan and non-binary. Human rights groups say they are one of the first land defenders, in recent history, to be killed by the United States government. Their death marks a significant escalation in state violence against protestors.
Since Terán’s death during a police raid on January 18, 2023, tensions have escalated between “Stop Cop City’' land defenders and the Atlanta government. The Atlanta Police Department has consistently avoided conversations about accountability regarding Terán’s death, while releasing contradictory information.
Atlanta police have slapped protestors with unprecedented domestic terrorism and racketeering charges, refusing to let many out of jail. Meanwhile, protestors have used direct action tactics to delay the construction of “Cop City” a year behind schedule. As a result of these delays, Atlanta City Council is meeting to vote on increasing funding for the Cop City project sometime between May 15 and June 5 of this year. Activists believe this vote allows community members to oppose further construction.
A press document released by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) immediately after Terán’s murder stated, “As law enforcement was moving through the property, officers located a man inside a tent in the woods. Officers gave verbal commands to the man who did not comply and shot a Georgia State Patrol Trooper. Other law enforcement officers returned fire, hitting the man.”
Terán, who was non-binary, queer and used they/them pronouns, was pronounced dead on the scene. Successive releases from the state of Georgia claimed that the trooper’s bullet wound matched a handgun found on the scene, allegedly wielded by Terán.
The DeKalb Medical Examiner’s Office conducted an independent autopsy weeks after the murder. And the information reported severely contradicted GBI’s initial reports. According to the autopsy, the bullet trajectories, as determined by the fourteen bullet wounds on Tortuguita’s body, revealed that Terán was most likely in a cross-legged seated position with “[their] hands and arms up and in front of [their] body, with [their] palms facing towards [their] upper body.” when being shot by the Georgia State Trooper officer. The autopsy also revealed that the gunshot wounds “originated from armed individuals who were standing towards the front of [Tortuguita], and relatively close to [them].”
There is inconclusive evidence to determine whether or not Terán was holding a firearm at the time of their death. However, what is clear is the distinct lack of transparency on the GBI’s end. Specifically, Georgia law enforcement was deeply reluctant to share evidence regarding the specifics of what happened during the fatal police raid.
The GBI initially stated that there was no live footage of the shooting due to state law protections. They argued these laws do not require the joint task force, composed of federal and state officers, to wear body cameras. However, the Georgia State Patrol released body camera footage on February 8. A conversation captured on the body cameras between officers from the Atlanta Police Department in the minutes following the death included officers stating that it sounded more like suppressed gunfire.
“It sounded suppressed, like three rounds,” an officer says.
Another officer from the Atlanta PD remarked that the gunshots were more consistent with that of a police officer shooting one of their own.
“F–ked your own officer up,” the officer said.
The GBI dismissed these statements in an official press release, stating that the officer’s remarks were speculative.
“Speculation is not evidence,” the release reads, “our investigation does not support that statement.”
The GBI also refused to release any video evidence they had, citing a Georgia law that “exempt[s] the public disclosure of videos in an active investigation.”
The GBI release stated that the rationale behind doing so is to prevent several outside factors, like viewing videos related to the incident, from interfering with a witness’s statement during an interview. The GBI also refused to meet with Terán’s family to discuss the circumstances of their death – demonstrating a lack of transparency or meaningful redress for the killing.
The GBI has increased sweeps and raids of the Stop Cop City occupation since Terán’s death at the hands of police. A “Stop Cop City” organizer stated that several activists were arrested and charged with domestic terrorism after the raids. They asked to remain anonymous to protect their safety.
“We are facing incredible political oppression. There is immense rhetoric used against protestors to deter [activists],” the organizer said. “It’s very clear that the broad application of domestic terrorism charges is not reflective of the severity of the actions, but rather to throw people in jail for months or years. Even though these charges are dropped, these charges are meant to intimidate.”
In March 2023 alone, 42 forest defenders received domestic terrorism charges. While the press release from the Atlanta Police Department stated that those arrested were “violent agitators,” activists said police arrested them during a music festival.
“There were 1,000 people on the other side of the forest at a festival on March 5,” the “Stop Cop City” organizer said. “Police tried to grab as many people as they could at the festival because they just needed to arrest one to justify the raid. They filter out who is from Georgia and who isn’t and arrest all the people that aren’t from Georgia… They charged the people at the festival with solely domestic terrorism.”
The organizer believes these arrests were meant to be punitive towards protestors “as punishment for supporting the movement.” After being cited as “a threat to the community,” eight arrested parties had their bond denied.
In an effort to understand the criminal charges against posed the environmental activists, Attorney Donald F. Samuel, the author of “Georgia Criminal Law Casefinder,” explained the context of “domestic terrorism” accusations in Georgia. Samuel said there have yet to be any cases in Georgia that have carried out domestic terrorism charges in the past, due to the severity of the charge.
“The statute was enacted to address what we may describe as traditional “terrorism” cases: that is, cases in which violent criminal conduct is employed to force governments to alter public policy,” Samuel said.
“Domestic terrorism means any felony violation of, or attempt to commit a felony violation of the laws of this state which, as part of a single unlawful act or a series of unlawful acts which are interrelated by distinguishing characteristics, is intended to cause serious bodily harm, kill any individual or group of individuals, or disable or destroy critical infrastructure, a state or government facility, or a public transportation system when such disability or destruction results in major economic loss, and is intended to: (A) Intimidate the civilian population of this state or any of its political subdivisions; (B) Alter, change, or coerce the policy of the government of this state or any of its political subdivisions by intimidation or coercion; or (C) Affect the conduct of the government of this state or any of its political subdivisions by use of destructive devices, assassination, or kidnapping.”
The organizer from “Stop Cop City” also confirmed that the police raided a communal space serving as a medic hub for forest defenders. At 8 a.m. on March 11, 20 police officers raided the Lakewood Environment Arts Foundation with a search warrant for “suspected domestic terrorism.”
“Police pointed their rifles at people, arresting 1 for a missed traffic ticket, meaning they were trying to throw as many people in jail as possible,” the organizer said. “They tore up all the tents and toppled the medical supplies. It was a tactic to destroy camps rather than trying to seize any assets.”
Charges leveled against protestors escalated beyond just domestic terrorism. The “Stop Cop City” organizer explained that local activist leaders, including in groups like the Atlanta Solidarity Fund, have had RICO charges considered against them. Although the Atlanta Solidarity Fund was solely providing legal support to protestors and not organizing any protests of their own, the organizer explained that in the wake of political oppression, “legal counsel is a lifeline to solidarity.”
Attorney Don Samuel explained that RICO charges helped law enforcement prosecute those associated with organized crime.
“The original purpose of RICO was to target organized crime and to facilitate seizures of money and property in these criminal cases,” Samuel said. “Over the past twenty years, RICO has been added to the prosecutors’ arsenal in a wide assortment of cases, though usually in cases of some kind of organized criminal activity, including substantial drug, gang, and other [similar] cases.”
Given Georgia’s limited use of the domestic terrorism charges, and the fact that RICO charges apply only to illegal activities related to organized crime, Attorney Samuel said that he has not seen any prior protest cases that have invoked either charge, even during the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests.
The “Stop Cop City” organizer commented on how the measures enacted by the Atlanta Police Department have retaliated to the successful protests the forest defenders have organized and participated in. Because of the continued protests, the cop city project is reportedly a year behind schedule, and tensions are escalating beyond the scope of those within the forest.
“The city of Atlanta continues to push policies that hurt different people and instead benefit the 1%, who are very upset that people are fighting back,” the organizer said. “More and more people are joining and the city of Atlanta is creating a new task force because of political pressure that protests have applied. They’re also attempting to shut down parts of the forest to demoralize forest defenders but people are all over the forests.”
On the legal level, things might be coming to a close. The Atlanta Community Press Collective has uncovered documents stating that Atlanta City Council members have to vote on possibly spending up to $33.5 million in taxpayer dollars on the “Cop City” facility, due to the successful forest defender protests. There is a likelihood that Georgia may abandon the “Cop City” project, if the council votes against providing more funds on June 5th of this year.
Atlanta residents can participate in both city council and subcommittee meetings during designated public comment periods on May 15 and June 5 to provide input and opinions on the construction of “Cop City.”