Activists Lock Themselves to Construction Equipment, Halt Work at Brasfied & Gorrie Site to Demand that the Contractor “Drop Cop City”

Report from so-called Atlanta, Georgia on a recent lockdown against Brasfield & Gorrie, the lead contractor in the Cop City counter-insurgency training facility.

photos: Atlanta Community Press Collective

Atlanta, GA: On Monday morning two activists used reinforced pipes to lock themselves to construction equipment at a Brasfield & Gorrie work site at 12th and Juniper in Midtown Atlanta. All vehicle entrances to the facility were also blockaded, as construction at the site was completely halted. Brasfield & Gorrie is the lead contractor for “Cop City”, and activists stated that they targeted the midtown site as a way to pressure the company to cut ties with the controversial project.

“Brasfield & Gorrie should expect disruptions at their worksites everywhere, and anytime. People of good conscience will continue taking action against Brasfield & Gorrie until they join the host of other contractors who have cut ties with Cop City,” stated Mariah Parker, a local Stop Cop City activist.

In addition to being the lead contractor for Cop City, Brasfield & Gorrie has also pledged to donated over $1 million to the Atlanta Police Foundation, the entity behind the project. Justin Rannick, a Brasfield & Gorrie executive, also sits on the Foundation’s advisory board. Since “Cop City” was first proposed, several contractors have dropped out of the project including Reeves Young Construction and Atlas Technical Consultants.

Tensions around Cop City continue to rise across Atlanta, with activists expressing growing frustration over the City’s efforts to block them from voting on the issue. Despite over 100,000 residents signing a ballot referendum, Mayor Andre Dickens and the City Council have refused to put the issue on the ballot.

“As a volunteer for the Cop City Vote referendum initiative, I knocked on doors across Atlanta gathering petition signatures, including in this exact neighborhood where I took action today. Myself and countless other residents have tried every legal avenue to Stop Cop City – but the City government has stonewalled us every step of the way. I don’t want to have to be doing this today, but direct action and civil disobedience are the only options we have left.” Temperance, one of the people locked down at the construction site.

The protest group also drew attention to the connections between Cop City, and the ongoing Genocide that Israel is waging on Gaza.

“The Georgia-Israel Law Enforcement Exchange (GILEE) is a private police exchange program where thousands of Georgia police are trained in, and by Israeli Occupation Forces. The violent tactics used against Palestinians are brought back to Atlanta and used in our city. The Israeli military trains our police in surveillance, racial profiling, detention, and violent force, like knee-on-neck or shoot to kill. Cop City would be used to expand this program. I am a Jewish American. To sit by while Black people and Palestinians are dehumanized is antithetical to the Torah. Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel said prayer is meaningless unless it is subversive! If we as Jews are meant to repair the world, we must start prayers with our feet.” Raizel, a Jewish activist locked down at the construction site.