On March 6, 2023 23 people ages 18-49 attacked a “Cop City Training Center” with fireworks. They were supposedly having a friendly protest but they turned violent, lit the center on fire, and accumulated thousands of dollars in property damage.

Twenty three of the angry protesters were charged with domestic violence after the attack and were taken to jail. Twenty one of the protesters were from out of state. They were from places like Utah, Colorado, Arizona and New York. However, two of the protesters arrested were from other countries altogether. The suspects age range was from 18 all the way to 49. The police were said to use “non- lethal enforcement” to detain at least people during the attack.

“The violent agitators used the cover of a peaceful protest of the proposed Atlanta Public Safety Training Center to conduct a coordinated attack on construction equipment and police officers,” the Atlanta police stated. According to sources, no police officers were injured in the incident, but the officers noted that, “the illegal actions of the agitators could have resulted in bodily harm.” It is said that the police held their ground until more enforcement showed up and helped defend the training center.

Police believe that the attacks came from the January 28th fatal shooting of a twenty six year old  environmental activist named Manuel Esteban Paez Teran, leading to Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp to declare a state of emergency on Jan. 26. Officers involved in the shooting claimed Teran fired the first shot, hitting a state trooper in the abdomen and prompting them to return fire. Atlanta police believe that this is the reason that the attacks started in the first place.