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Jul 23, 22

Tree-sits and Barricades Hold Strong as Week of Action to Defend the Atlanta Forest Kicks Off

As the week of action to defend the Atlanta forest begins, already a wave of actions have set an uncompromising tone. Over the past week, police attempted to block off access to Intrenchment Creek Park with large concrete barriers and also put up, “Park Closed” signs, angering both forest defenders and park goers. As the Atlanta Community Press Collective wrote:

With no warning and little legal justification, a mass of DeKalb County police officers accompanied by construction equipment and paving machines descended upon Intrenchment Creek Park (ICP) on the morning of Friday, July 15th.

Barricades were placed at the entrances of two parking lots with access to the park, effectively preventing vehicle access to the park. While pedestrian access points remain physically unblocked, “private property – no trespassing” signs have been posted at multiple spots. As of Monday afternoon, it remains unclear to what extent this so-called trespassing will be enforced by DeKalb County PD.

In response, local community groups held a press conference denouncing the move, but according to Scenes from the Atlanta Forest, the barriers did not last long. A communique posted to the site reported:

It takes 100 cute little ants working together to type a communique. Imagine how many ants it takes to move a 4,000 lb concrete barricade! That’s what we accomplished last night, the evening of the 19th. Ryan Milsap wanted to close Intrenchment Creek Park to the public and thought that some 2 ton concrete barricades would do the trick. But he just had no idea how many ants love to come and go from the park and love to work together to make a nicer place for the whole community. Fuck Milsap, Fuck Blackhall, and FUCK THE COPS!

Love to you all,
Ant Gang

Inside the Atlanta forest itself, tree-sits remain ongoing, despite continuing attempts by police to remove the growing resistance encampments. According to a report published on July 21st, local police made another failed attempt at removing tree-sitters, who wrote:

The continued militarized response to treesitters in the south Atlanta forest shows very blatantly how willing the state is to use violence and intimidation to repress our movements. To the state we say this “We will not be intimidated.” Your “aggressive posturing” will not scare us away. While you depict us as almost mythical creatures capable of terrifying things, skulking through the woods, we enjoy a world filled with relationships built on trust and intimacies deeper than you can imagine. group meals, music around the fire, real talk, a life richer than most anything to be found in civilization, built with the scraps of your world. There are many of us, with many different analyses, but we hold one thing in common, we have seen what is possible, and we stand in total opposition to this world and its cops. For a world without police or prisons or asylums, a world without gender, a world without civilization.

Then on July 22nd, the day before the week of action was set to kick off, a new communique claimed that forest defenders had barricaded an area of Intrenchment Creek Park that served as the entrance to the Remote Control Airfield. According to the report:

“BECOME UN-REMOTE-CONTROLLABLE, FUCK BLACKHALL” reads the banner in front of the new tire-and-brush barricade in front of the Remote Control Airfield at Intrenchment Creek Park, where police entered the forest twice this week after barricading the ICP parking lot shut last Friday. The cops gleefully stepped into their role as the hired henchmen of corporate elites, and “closed the park”—which is still legally a public park—at the behest of Blackhall Studios CEO Ryan Millsap, sworn enemy of all things good in this world. The cops put up private property signs which were swiftly taken down, and the cement barricades autonomously swung open.

The time has long passed to choose a side. You are either with the forest or against it. We know where the cops stand, we know where Blackhall Studios stands, and we will no longer let them into these woods without a battle.

OUR WOODS NOT HOLLYWOOD’S! NO HOLLYWOOD DYSTOPIA! FUCK RYAN MILLSAP! FUCK BLACKHALL STUDIOS! BECOME UN-REMOTE-CONTROLLABLE!!!

To check out a calendar of events for the unfolding week of action, go here. Be sure to also follow Defend the Atlanta Forest and check Scenes from the Atlanta Forest for action reports.

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