Communities Across US Rally in Support of ‘Stop Cop City’ Activists Targeted in Atlanta Raids

People took to the streets across the US over the past several days following violent police raids in Atlanta, which targeted the movement against Cop City, a massive counter-insurgency law enforcement training center which is backed and funded by large corporations, both political parties in the US, and the Atlanta Police Foundation. Over the past several years, a country-wide resistance campaign has raged against the project, leading to the police murder of forest defender Tortuguita and the city of Atlanta’s attempts to crush even democratic attempts at voting down the project through a popular referendum.

Last Thursday, as the Atlanta Community Press Collective reported:

Thursday morning law enforcement officers from a joint task force that included the Atlanta Police Department, FBI, GBI and ATF executed one arrest warrant and three search warrants on two homes in the Lakewood Heights area and one in the Starlight Heights neighborhood that police say are associated with the Stop Cop City movement.

At a press conference, Atlanta Police Chief Darin Schierbaum said the search warrants were for evidence related to a series of arson and vandalism attacks that took place over the last few months. The arrest warrant was for an arson against police motorcycles that took place in July at an APD facility at 180 Southside Industrial Pkwy, and the arrested individual was charged with first degree arson. Chief Schierbaum also said he anticipated additional arrests related to the acts of arson in the coming weeks.

“These raids are an escalation at the federal level and an attack on the movement to disappear dissenters against Cop City,” said media contacts within the opposition movement to Cop City.

A press conference followed later that day, featuring members of Community Movement Builders and other local activists who when asked by the media about recent acts of sabotage against Cop City, refused to condemn those taking direct action. One person stated in a now viral clip:

If I’m being honest with you, Atlanta deserves more than that. Real talk. They lucky. This city is lucky. This country is lucky. Atlanta has its hands in literally murdering Palestinians right now. You think we give a damn about – some equipment? Not at all. Not at all. But some of us, we can’t take that risk. And those who can, bless them, bless them. I cannot take that risk, but lord knows I sit with my lighter, and be like, “Damn.”

So the best thing that I can do, is use my voice, use my feet, use my heart, and talk to my people and to organize, and I put my body on the line, and show up as much as we can. Because we need every, every, means necessary, to deal with the police state in which we are dealing with.

So no – and I would imagine my comrades would say the same – no ain’t gonna condemn no body for doing righteously what they need to do, when our city has silenced every, quote un-quote democratic proper, democratic process. As one of the students say, if we don’t get this in the courts, if we can’t get this at council, then we gonna take it in the streets. Because our people, my babies, are worth the risk.

Another home was then raided on February 10th. An activist in Atlanta speaking anonymously to It’s Going Down stated that the raids pointed to a lack “actual strategy [by law enforcement] beyond just going as hard and as violent as they can.”

They went on to speak to the situation on the ground: “It feels terrifying to be in Atlanta right now, there’s just rampant harassment, surveillance, intimidation and fear-mongering. The police are making up completely fabricated stories, details, and anonymous witnesses. They are raiding houses and finding no evidence of crimes. It’s clear to us that this is a serious attempt to install fear, paranoia, and to paralyze the movement. [But] it clearly isn’t stopping anything, because action continues in Atlanta and all over.”

A recent report from The Guardian describes the violence and chaos surrounding the raid last Thursday:

Thursday morning’s raid included agents and officers from the ATF, FBI, Atlanta police and Georgia state patrol.

One of three residents at a house raided in the Lakewood neighborhood spoke to the Guardian on condition of anonymity. She woke to blue lights outside her window at approximately 6am on Thursday and heard voices in the hallway outside her room shouting, “Atlanta police! Get out and show both hands in the air!” She had pajama bottoms on, but no top. She grabbed a bathrobe without a belt or tie and asked if she could put on some clothes.

“They grabbed me, led me outside and handcuffed me – leaving me completely uncovered,” she said. Officers led her to a squad car, where she remained for “what seemed like hours” – while officers came in and out of the car, her top uncovered the whole time. One took photos of her, insisting, “it’s only of your face”.

After some time, she was released.

A person living at the house where Mazurek was arrested woke up on Thursday to a flashbang grenade. He jumped out of bed, put on socks, and shouted, “I’m leaving my room!” He got on his knees and looked up to see a Georgia state trooper pointing a gun with a red laser at his face. A trooper “grabbed me by my hair and dragged me on my knees to the back door”, he said.

He was also put in a squad car for some time, only to be released. He went to a shed in the back of his house with another one of his roommates. He saw a nude Polaroid photo of his roommate on a table. She said the police had placed it there and started crying.

A person who identified herself as “a long-time partner” of Mazurek said the arrest Thursday “feels like desperation on the part of the city, to put a face on their fear-mongering”. She said she was sure there was “no evidence” tying the arrestee to the July incident.

The activist speaking with It’s Going Down corroborated these actions by the police and reported, “This is going to bite themselves in the ass in the long run, especially with all of the recording of the damage, the trauma, the horrendous dehumanizing situations they have been putting people in during these raids. They are just trying to look strong and heavy handed and I think they are very embarrassed. It feels like every time there is a serious action of sabotage they are just going to arbitrarily raid an activist house that is on their radar. It’s horrible and terrifying, but also the community is coming out so powerfully in solidarity and people are taking care of each other. We keep us safe.”

The recent raids take place against a backdrop of clandestine sabotage actions. In Atlanta, one communique claimed credit for torching a police car. According to a report posted to Scenes from the Atlanta Forest:

One APD vehicle was burned overnight as an initial response to the repressive operation of February 8, which involved three house raids and the arrest of John “Jack” Mazurek, who is being held without bail.

We wish to dispel any notion that people will take this latest wave of repression lying down, or that arresting alleged arsonists will deter future arsons.

Jack is accused of participating in the arson attack of July 1, 2023, when eight APD motorcyles were burned at the current police training center that Cop City is intended to replace. The group that claimed responsibility for that action called for the movement against Cop City to develop into an urban guerrilla struggle. This is still the only sensible course of action for anyone in Atlanta who considers themselves a serious revolutionary.

In light of recent arsons of construction equipment belonging to Cop City contractor Brent Scarbrough, the police needed to make a move to reassure their contractors and funders. Let’s not panic or be discouraged; we have them on the back foot. We will answer their aggression by keeping up the pace of attacks.

The cop car we burned was part of the APD’s “take-home car” program. There are at least 40 (well… 39) cops around Atlanta with patrol cars parked right in front of their houses. The opportunity to have a shiny new take-home car is reportedly the number-one reason for police retention. It is also intended to act as a crime deterrent in the neighborhood; we think that’s funny. This particular car was in Lakewood, the same neighborhood where two of the house raids took place. Our message is simple: if our comrades cannot sleep soundly in their homes, neither can the pigs.

We are not special. Our skills are not overly technical or advanced, and our tools are simple to acquire. If you are reading this, you are capable of doing what we do. We all have something to lose; it is simply a matter of living out our beliefs or submitting to the police state. Inaction is a choice just as much as action, and we all have to live with the choices we make.

Other actions claimed via communiques posted to Scenes from the Atlanta Forest took credit for sabotaging supply trucks in St. Paul belonging to Home Deport, one of the corporate backers of Cop City, and attacking self-driving cars in San Francisco, CA. From the communique:

In the past several weeks, we used hammers and knives to sabotage multiple Waymo self-driving vehicles in San Francisco. We attacked Waymo in solidarity with the Palestinian people and resistance. Waymo is owned by Alphabet, Google’s parent company. Google, together with Amazon, has a $1.2 billion contract to provide cloud computing services to “Israel” and its military as part of Project Nimbus.

A statement from the Palestinian Youth Movement but the actions in context, writing:

Today the system’s belly rests atop Gaza, whose rumblings shake the earth upon which we walk. Through its Georgia International Law Enforcement Exchange (GILEE) program, the APD has sent hundreds of police to train with the Zionist occupation forces. And in October 2023, after Tufan al-Aqsa, the Atlanta Police Department engaged in hostage training inside abandoned hotels, putatively intended to “defeat Hamas,” in an advancement of tactics for the targeting of Black people.

Stop Cop City remains undeterred: on Friday, an APD cop car was burnt overnight in response to the police operation on February 8; yesterday, two trucks and trailers loaded with lumber were burnt to the ground. An anonymous statement claiming credit for the former, stated: “We wish to dispel any notion that people will take this latest wave of repression lying down, or that arresting alleged arsonists will deter future arsons.”

As the U.S. government and Zionist entity set their sights on the Palestinian people sheltering in Rafah, as they continue their relentless genocide of our people in Khan Younis, Jabalia, Shuja’iyya, and Gaza City, the Stop Cop City movement has clearly articulated its solidarity with the Palestinian struggle. They have done so with consistency and discipline, and we have heard them. Our vision of freedom in this life and the next requires us to confront and challenge the entangled forces of oppression in Palestine and in Turtle Island, and to identify the sites of tension upon which these systems distill their forces. This week, as with the last three years, the forest defenders have presented us one such crucible.

Solidarity rallies were also held in New York City, Chicago, IL and Bloomington, Indiana, along with banner drops, benefit events, and a variety of other solidarity gatherings across the US.

From Bloomington, supporters wrote of their rally: