Atlanta ‘Cop City’ Protesters Are Now Being Hit With RICO Charges
The Georgia Attorney General’s Office has filed RICO Act violation charges against protesters fighting to stop the construction of the police training facility known as “Cop City” in Atlanta’s South River Forest.
The charges of violating Georgia’s Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations were filed Tuesday, Sept. 5, in Fulton County Superior Court, with 61 people named. In a statement announcing the indictment, the AG’s office alleged that the defendants “have conspired together to prevent the construction of the Atlanta Public Safety Training Center by conducting, coordinating, and organizing acts of violence, intimidation, and property destruction” in Georgia and other states.
The RICO charges mark another significant increase in pressure from state officials looking to crack down on those advocating against the the $90 million, 85-acre police training facility. As the Atlanta Community Press Collective — a local group covering the Stop Cop City movement and other autonomous groups — noted on Twitter, many of the people charged with RICO Act violations were previously hit with domestic terrorism charges earlier this year over their opposition to Cop City.
Additionally, money laundering charges have been brought against organizers of the Atlanta Solidarity Fund, which helps arrested protesters with jail support and legal representation. And capping it all off, the ACPC noted that three people indicted on RICO charges were previously arrested for merely passing out flyers earlier this year.
In a statement shared with Rolling Stone, the Cop City Vote coalition slammed Georgia AG Chris Carr and the RICO charges, calling them “blatantly authoritarian.” They further accused the State of Georgia of trying to “intimidate protestors, legal observers, and bail funds alike, and send the chilling message that any dissent to Cop City will be punished with the full power and violence of the government.”
“The Cop City Vote coalition strongly condemns these anti-democratic charges,” the statement adds. “We will not be intimidated by power-hungry strongmen, whether in City Hall or the Attorney General’s office. Chris Carr may try to use his prosecutors and power to build his gubernatorial campaign and silence free speech, but his threats will not silence our commitment to standing up for our future, our community, and our city.”
Perhaps pointedly, the RICO indictment dates the origins of the Defend the Atlanta Forest movement back to May 25, 2020, the day Derek Chauvin murdered George Floyd (the indictment refers to Floyd’s murder not as murder but a “high-profile killing”). Of this decision, the Cop City Vote coalition said, “This is months before anyone was even aware of Cop City, and is a clear assault on the broader movement for racial justice and equity. Carr’s actions are a part of a retaliatory pattern of prosecutions against organizers nationwide that attack the right to protest and freedom of speech.”
Carr, in a statement of his own said, “As this indictment shows, looking the other way when violence occurs is not an option in Georgia. If you come to our state and shoot a police officer, throw Molotov cocktails at law enforcement, set fire to police vehicles, damage construction equipment, vandalize private homes and businesses, and terrorize their occupants, you can and will be held accountable. We will not waver when it comes to keeping people safe, enforcing the rule of law, and ensuring those who engage in criminal activity are vigorously pursued and aggressively prosecuted.”
As Rolling Stone reported last year, the Stop Cop City movement is largely being led by a loose band of environmentalists and anarchists under the banner, Defend the Atlanta Forest. Since Cop City was approved in 2021, many protesters have literally camped out in the South River Forest, aiming to disrupt and stop the construction of the facility by any means necessary.
In response, authorities mounted two raids on the protesters, in Dec. 2022 and Jan. 2023, which led to the arrest of dozens of protesters. Many were hit with terrorism charges, even though their arrest records showed they committed no specific crimes other than misdemeanor trespassing. During the Jan. 18 raid, the police also killed a protester, Manuel “Torguguita” Teran. While the Georgia Bureau of Investigation claims Teran shot first, protesters have disputed this claim, noting there’s no body camera footage of, or civilian witnesses to, Teran’s killing.
Following Teran’s death, the Stop Cop City movement took to the streets in Atlanta, prompting Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp to issue a state of emergency declaration and call in the Georgia National Guard. Many of those arrested were hit with domestic terrorism charges, a tactic authorities have continued to use to snuff out demonstrations.
Several months later, in March, a legal observer and attorney with the Southern Poverty Law Center was among 40 people charged with domestic terrorism during a March protest. In June, a legal challenge was brought against the state’s use of its domestic terrorist statute against protesters, arguing it was a free speech violation.
Amidst the protests and charges, an effort is also underway to appeal the lease the Atlanta City Council granted to to the Atlanta Police Foundation to build Cop City. The Cop City Vote coalition has been collecting signatures to put a referendum on the ballot, and they plan to submit those by the end of September.
This story was updated at 2:28 p.m. ET with a statement from the Cop City Vote coalition. This story was updated again at 5:01 p.m. ET with a statement from the Georgia Attorney General’s Office.