Police Detain Dozens Of People For Allegedly Attacking Cop Training Center Site

(Daily Caller News Foundation) A large, violent group launched a fiery attack on law enforcement and construction equipment at a planned Atlanta-area police training center site Sunday, leading to more than 30 arrests, according to the Atlanta Police Department (APD).

More than 18 people had already been charged since December with domestic terrorism for actions in opposition to the $90 million training center, nicknamed “Cop City,” on publicly-owned forest land, with demonstrators allegedly occupying parts of the woods at times over more than a year until police cleared them out, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported. Violent agitators attacked police officers at the site Sunday using peaceful protests as cover, vandalizing and setting fire to multiple pieces of construction equipment, the APD said.

“They changed into black clothing and entered the construction area and began to throw large rocks, bricks, Molotov cocktails, and fireworks at police officers,” the department’s Sunday night press release reported. “Multiple law enforcement agencies deployed to the area and detained several people committing illegal activity. 35 agitators have been detained so far.”

Footage shared by the ADP shows masked attackers surging into the site, with machinery going up in flames.

The department urged protests that were planned for the rest of the week to remain peaceful, indicating that law enforcement partners have a “multi-layered strategy that includes reaction and arrest” should they turn out differently. Violent demonstrators raged in Atlanta on Jan. 21 after police fatally shot left-wing activist Manuel Teran, according to the AJC, who allegedly defied police instructions and fired at law enforcement during a clearing operation in the training center’s vicinity, Atlanta News First reported.

The APD did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.

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