In a statement on Monday, the National Lawyers Guild called the recent arrests “part of ongoing state repression and violence against racial and environmental justice protesters, who are fighting to defend their communities from the harms of militarised policing and environmental degradation”. Meanwhile, rights groups have accused prosecutors of using trumped-up charges against protesters to quell the unrest. Law enforcement and protesters have accused each other of escalating violence in recent weeks, following the police killing of a protester in January. The planned construction and its backlash have spurred a nationwide debate over free speech, protest and punishment in the United States.
The protesters, who have been demonstrating against the facility for months, have also called for a “national day of action” on Thursday. The latest charges come as environmental and racial justice protesters hold a “week of action” against the planned facility, which is set to be built in the South River Forest in Atlanta’s unincorporated DeKalb County. A judge in Atlanta, Georgia, has ordered 22 people charged with “domestic terrorism” to be held without bail amid ongoing protests against a proposed police training facility, dubbed “Cop City” by protesters.Ī 23rd individual, a Southern Poverty Law Center lawyer who was at the protest as a legal observer for the National Lawyers Guild, was released on bond following the Tuesday night arraignment.
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