Two protesters representing the “Stop Cop City” movement were arrested at the site of the future Atlanta Public Safety Training Center on Wednesday after police said they chained themselves to a crane and unfurled a banner with the words “Drop Cop City,” indicating their opposition to the training center.
The Atlanta Police Department (APD) confirmed the incident in a post to the social media platform X.
According to the department, apprehending the protesters required a “coordinated effort” between APD and fire rescue teams “to intervene and remove two anarchists who had scaled construction equipment to protest the construction of the Atlanta Public Safety Training Center.”
March 27, 2024- In a coordinated effort, Atlanta Police and Fire Rescue teams were compelled to intervene and remove two anarchists who had scaled construction equipment to protest the construction of the Atlanta Public Safety Training Center. pic.twitter.com/IaKJjOgU7R
— Atlanta Police Department (@Atlanta_Police) March 27, 2024
The two activists were identified to the media by police as Parker Demos and Frederick Hetzel. Fox 5 Atlanta reported that while Hetzel is a Decatur resident, Demos was only issued a Georgia driver’s license last week and was previously a resident of North Carolina.
Additional video and images posted to the social media platform X appear to show the protesters climbing the construction crane and locking themselves to a ladder.
Two people climbed a construction crane and have locked themselves to the ladder system at a Brasfield & Gorrie work site to pressure the company to drop their contract to build ‘Cop City’. pic.twitter.com/DyK8uWxHud
— Atlanta Community Press Collective (@atlanta_press) March 27, 2024
An alleged network of 61 activists accused of facilitating criminal activity in opposition to the public safety training center was criminally indicted last year by Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr, who asserts the anarchist and left-wing protesters are engaged in an organized racketeering conspiracy to stop the facility.
Opposition to the Atlanta Public Safety Training Center fizzled in the Georgia State Senate in December 2023, when all but seven Democrats voted with Republicans in favor of a resolution expressing symbolic support for the law enforcement and public safety training campus.
The resolution made special note of “groups and individuals opposed” to the facility who “reside out of state,” and declared activists have “systematically orchestrated a relentless campaign of violence, property damage, and domestic terrorism to obstruct and intimidate the completion of the training center.”
While the measure may not have much support among Georgia lawmakers, Stop Cop City activists in December 2023 landed the support of Democratic election attorney Marc Elias, who reportedly elected to lend “his political weight” behind an ordinance to compel Atlanta to count petitions gathered by those seeking to stop construction of the training center.
Despite organized opposition to the Atlanta Public Safety Training Center by what prosecutors claim is an organized criminal network of left-wing activists and anarchists, work on the project continues, with APD recently providing an update online.
“In the first two weeks of December, we planted nearly 200 trees across 85 acres of the property,” the department revealed, explaining the cold month is ideal to plant the dormant trees, which APD explained are “Georgia-grown and proudly native plants” designed to add “a touch of local charm” to the facility.
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Tom Pappert is the lead reporter for The Tennessee Star, and also reports for The Georgia Star News, The Virginia Star, and The Arizona Sun Times. Follow Tom on X/Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
