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Last night, multiple police agencies wearing militarized gear and carrying lethal weapons raided a local family-friendly music festival in a public park within the Weelaunee urban forest of Atlanta. Officers used excessive force to arrest dozens of concert-goers – including musicians and a legal observer – and threatened to shoot people in the park, even pointing a rifle into a bouncey house.

Over 30 people were arrested and charged with “domestic terrorism.” Forest Defenders are also being threatened with RICO (Racketeer Influenced and Corruption Organizations) charges, which make local charges into federal offenses.

There is a reason police are desperate to stop this week’s mass mobilization in Atlanta and the growing movement to #StopCopCity. If built, Cop City would be a sprawling facility for police to practice urban warfare and legal maneuvers to justify violence, accelerating violations of our Constitutional rights. Today, we find ourselves at a turning point for movement repression that – if not stopped – will further normalize violence and unravel our fundamental rights.

→ Nationwide Day of Action against Police Terrorthis Thursday ←

→ Mass Mobilization in Atlanta this week ←

The Atlanta Police Foundation has plans – backed by $60 million in corporate funding and $30 million in taxpayer money – to replace the country’s largest urban forest with the country’s largest police training facility. Cop City would be used to militarize and train police forces from across the country in protest repression and would further exacerbate police violence against Black, Indigenous, and people of the global majority.

In January, police killed Tortuguita while they were defending Weelaunee Forest from the destruction of Cop City. Construction crews have begun moving into the forest. This project is widely opposed by Atlantans. Last night, police attacked innocent bystanders. Frontline organizers are asking everyone to help #StopCopCity now:

Join the Nationwide Day of Action against Police Terror on March 9th

Come to Atlanta for the Mass Mobilization thru March 11th

Communities of color live with police-induced trauma every day. With Cop City, this Atlanta community would feel and hear the presence of an urban warfare training facility where police learn new ways to enact violence against Black and Brown communities, right in their own backyard, and near their elementary school.

In addition to the terror of an ever-present police force, Cop City is an environmental racism nightmare. The Weelaunee Forest provides ecological relief for the people of Atlanta. This public park offsets stormwater runoff, keeping sediment out of drinking water. The trees cool the city during long, hot, humid summers, sink carbon and improve air quality.

Cop City has been gaining nationwide attention, and for good reason. The city of Atlanta, its police force, and its corporate sponsors are actively cooperating to increase police power, at a time when police departments are under scrutiny for abusing that power. If Cop City is built, the trend toward illegal arrests, protester surveillance and criminalization, police militarization, and human rights abuses we’ve seen at Line 3, DAPL and elsewhere will only get worse.

Nationwide Day of Action against Police Terror 3/9

Mass Mobilization in Atlanta thru 3/11

Climate justice = environmental justice = racial justice = social justice. Let’s STOP COP CITY.

PS – Need a quick digital action? Stop the Money Pipeline to Cop City!