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(CNN) A large public park at the proposed location of a police and fire training facility near Atlanta has been dubbed “Cop City” by critics, but county officials said they found the site “life-threatening.” It was later temporarily closed by executive order. Hidden traps scattered throughout the park.
DeKalb County CEO Michael Thurmond told CNN by telephone, “They confiscated booby traps, boards with nails hidden in leaves and undergrowth. Killing small children and pets. I was able to do it,” he said.
Thurmond said the park is a very popular area for people to walk and enjoy nature.
“It’s not safe now,” he added.
The planned facility has seen little public input since its conception, conservationists worried about clearing a much-needed chunk of forest, and it has militarized police forces. , has been met with fierce backlash by activists who say they contribute to further cases. about police brutality.
“I understand the backlash against Cop City, but this is going too far,” Thurmond said.
Under the executive order, anyone entering the premises without a permit will be prosecuted for trespassing and unauthorized parked vehicles will be towed and seized.
Boards filled with nails were found throughout a closed section of the park, county officials said.
Thurmond said DeKalb County was unable to dispatch park employees to the site of the proposed $90 million 85-acre training facility because they were “attacked with rocks and other objects.”
Tensions between law enforcement and protesters have continued to mount since protesters were shot dead in January. Law enforcement said they opened fire on an officer first, seriously injuring a state trooper.
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation released an incident report on Friday that said police officers from the state’s Department of Public Security’s SWAT team said law enforcement officers asked protestor Manuel Paez Teran to come out of his tent during the clearing operation. explained that
According to reports, Paez Terran refused to leave, and as protesters were closing the tent’s front door door, a trooper fired a pepperbail into the opening. Paez Teran then began shooting “steadily,” the report said. The trooper says he threw away his pepperball launcher and fired the pistol at the shooter.
“During the shooting, we observed a small explosion in front of the tent and a large cloud of white powder billowing into the air,” the officer wrote in the report.
Officers say they fired until it became clear Paez Teran was either not shooting anymore or had set off additional explosive devices. In addition to the officer firing at the protesters, his five other officers fired their weapons, according to reports of the use of force.
A spokesperson for Paez Teran’s family sent a statement to CNN asking the Georgia Bureau of Investigation to release eyewitness accounts and evidence. criticized the agency.
“GBI is investigating its own tragic operation,” Enchanta Jackson said. I am asking you to explain,” he said.
Jackson noted that the incident report was filed on February 13th.
“The police account released today by the Department of Public Safety was drafted weeks and possibly months after the incident,” Jackson said. “When the officers drafted these statements, I had the opportunity to review the videos and press releases issued by GBI for each of them being made public.”
Task Force Considers Controversial Plan
The South River Forest Public Safety Training Center will be built on land that was once a prison farm. Although located just outside the Atlanta city limits, the parcel of land is owned by the city. In other words, the residents living around the site do not have the right to vote for the leader who approved it.
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Training centers will be built in primarily black and brown neighborhoods.
Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens has established a community task force to address opposition and controversy surrounding the training center.
According to the mayor’s office, more than 40 “professionals and community stakeholders” will join the South River Forest Public Safety Training Center Community Task Force. The Task Force will add members to the existing Advisory Board.
“The new community task force will add more voices and broaden the scope of community input to include surrounding green spaces and the nearby former Atlanta Prison Farm site, as well as public safety training curriculum,” the mayor said. Muro said in the news. release.
The task force includes representatives from the Georgia NAACP, ACLU, Georgia State University, and other community and clergy members.
“Georgia’s ACLU is committed to ensuring a safe and unencumbered right to protest, which is why it has put demonstrators’ First Amendment rights at the forefront of the city’s task force. We are participating,” said an official from the organization in a statement.
The organization said “dozens” of people at the site have been charged with domestic terrorism in recent months. They call the accusation “over-criminalization of demonstrators under constitutionally questionable laws.”
“Georgia’s ACLU is committed to ensuring a safe and unencumbered right to protest, and as such has put demonstrators’ First Amendment rights at the forefront of the city’s task force. ,” Georgia’s ACLU is part of the new task. force, it said in a statement.
Like many people who are part of the new task force, the ACLU in Georgia opposes building a training center.
It is clear that the task force has no one from the Muscogee Nation, a Native American tribe of the “Creek” tribe. When CNN asked why there were no Native American representatives on the task force, the mayor’s office did not respond.
The “Creek” maintains land in the Wheerownie Woods that is expected to house a training center and is sacred land to the Native Americans. Their battle has been joined by a powerful coalition of decentralized activists, among whom paving the 85 acres of land will help prevent increased flooding in already flood-prone areas, among other things. Including climate activists who believe they can connect.
Anti-police activists from France and Canada are also participating in the movement.
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