Far-left domestic terrorists affiliated with the groups Antifa and Black Lives Matter went on a rampage through the city of Atlanta on Saturday, damaging property belonging to civilians and the police alike, after an attempted cop-killer was shot by the police.
According to the Washington Free Beacon, the riots were sparked by the officer-involved shooting of Manuel Esteban Perez Teran on Wednesday. Teran was one of many anti-police protesters at the site of a new police training facility in Atlanta; when the protests turned violent, the 26-year-old drew a gun and shot a Georgia State Patrol trooper, with other officers returning fire and killing Teran.
After Teran’s death, a far-left group called “Scenes from the Atlanta Forest” issued a demand for a “Night of Rage,” during which its members and associated groups were to commit “reciprocal violence” against the police and the population.
In the ensuing chaos, at least one police cruiser and three business storefronts were destroyed. Rioters threw rocks and fireworks, also targeting the Atlanta Police Foundation building. Chief Darin Schierbaum of the Atlanta Police Department later said in a statement that some rioters were even armed with explosives, which was used to destroy an Atlanta PD vehicle.
Mayor Andre Dickens (D-Ga.) later said that at least six rioters were arrested, and that several of them were from outside the state. Governor Brian Kemp (R-Ga.) issued a statement declaring that the crimes committed by the rioters “will not be tolerated in Georgia and will be prosecuted fully.”
The riots on Saturday mark the first major riot of its kind in the country since the infamous race riots of the summer of 2020, when the black nationalist group BLM and the Anarcho-Communist group Antifa committed mass acts of violence across the country, after a black man named George Floyd died of a fentanyl overdose while in police custody in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Rioters in multiple states committed acts of arson, looting, vandalism, rape, and murder, ultimately resulting in over 25 civilians killed and over $2 billion of damage nationwide.