Some people are pretending to be rebels fighting for a cause, but they’re actually just rich kids from out of state who like to cause trouble. They got together in a city called Atlanta and smashed up buildings, cars, and a police station. They also set a police car on fire. Some of the people who were arrested were actually the children of very wealthy parents and had gone to fancy schools. They weren’t actually fighting for the cause they said they were, they just wanted to cause chaos and destruction.
For context, the #ANTIFA riot is happening in #atlanta tonight because they had set up an “autonomous zone” called #CopCity and shot a police officer who made contact with them and he killed the shooter when returning fire.
— Swig ?? (@OldRowSwig) January 22, 2023
BREAKING: @Atlanta_Police vehicle burns in downtown Atlanta, police are working urgently to clear the streets of #COPCITY protesters. Very chaotic scene unfolding right now. #BREAKING #ATL #NEWS #NOW @FOX5Atlanta pic.twitter.com/XGf6M50t4O
— Billy Heath III (@BillyHeathFOX5) January 21, 2023
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation and other law enforcement agencies have launched multiple attempts to end the volatile occupation of forested areas. However, despite these efforts, protesters have reconvened and continued with their activities, heeding a call that was widely shared on anarchist sites for “defending Atlanta’s forests”. Even in the first police raid held in May 2022, police were met with Molotov cocktails. In addition to this, the GBI also declared that they had discovered gas masks and edged weapons during this same raid.
BREAKING: #COPCITY protesters throw rocks at Atlanta Police Foundation building in downtown Atlanta. They also set off fireworks and spray painted the building. #ATL #BREAKING #NOW @FOX5Atlanta pic.twitter.com/BwF5CzNgIm
— Billy Heath III (@BillyHeathFOX5) January 21, 2023
The list of those arrested includes a range of individuals from various backgrounds and social statuses. Teresa Yue Shen from Brooklyn, New York is one such example. She has previously graduated from Barnard College before working at Reuters and CNN according to her LinkedIn profile. Abigail Elizabeth Skapyak from Minneapolis was another arrestee. She had been an intern for the Justice Department as well as a graduate from American University.
Marianna Hoitt-Lange is yet another protester who was rounded up by the authorities. She had studied violin at New York University before her arrest on May 17th. Last but not least is Madeleine “Matthias” Gunther Kodat–the daughter of a former provost and dean of faculty at Lawrence University in Appleton, Wisconsin who was apprehended on May 17th.
ATLANTA ARRESTS: I witnessed @Atlanta_Police make a number of arrests tonight and managed to film two #COPCITY protesters being zip tied and removed from the street. #BREAKING #ATL #PROTEST #NEWS @FOX5Atlanta #ATLANTA pic.twitter.com/RjrVrG376U
— Billy Heath III (@BillyHeathFOX5) January 22, 2023
In November 2020, rioters attempted to set alight a man who had driven into the area by accident; Richard Porter told 11Alive News that the situation seemed dire enough that he felt he needed to escape his car before it could be fully engulfed by flames. This event was followed by two under-construction homes next to the protest site being burned to ground early December as well as another raid which resulted in six arrests for domestic terrorism charges later that month including Serena Hertal from Sun Valley Idaho who also holds a degree from Pitzer College–a private liberal arts university situated in Claremont California costing over $82,000 yearly for tuition alone.
Simultaneously with the unrest happening in Atlanta due to the shooting death of the gunman involved, far-left sympathizers around America have been organizing solidarity direct actions alongside encouraging retaliatory violence. Scenes From The Atlanta Forest–the collective representing autonomous zone released an open statement calling for “reciprocal violence” against police on Twitter which gained significant traction on social media platforms causing widespread outcry amongst citizens throughout the country leading Jared “Riley” Dowell (son of Democratic House Minority Whip Katherine Clark) being arrested for alleged vandalism and assaulting an officer along with other similar incidents such as banks being attacked in Lansing Michigan where six were apprehended or Portland UPS center purportedly set ablaze due to their comrade’s untimely death all purportedly as acts of retribution towards Cop City project .