On Sunday, additional violent riots struck the city of Atlanta over the city’s proposal to build a new police training facility, which its attackers have nicknamed “cop city.”
According to the New York Post, the site of the future Atlanta Public Safety Training Center, which is worth an estimated $90 million, came under what the Atlanta Police Department (APD) called “a coordinated attack” by far-left domestic terrorists. Attackers threw bricks and Molotov cocktails at police officers, and set several police vehicles on fire.
“They changed into black clothing and entered the construction area and began to throw large rocks, bricks, Molotov cocktails and fireworks at police officers,” the department said in a statement after the attack.
In response, about 35 of the rioters were arrested on the scene. The attack took place on the 85-acre construction site on the outskirts of the city. Multiple videos filmed on the night of the attack show several fires and billowing smoke rising from the construction site.
While the APD did not report any injuries, the department nevertheless noted that the attacks “could have resulted in bodily harm.”
The police training facility was first approved by the Atlanta city council in June of 2021, and is funded primarily by donations to the Atlanta Police Foundation nonprofit. It has since drawn criticism and past riots from far-left organizations, including Antifa, Black Lives Matter, and multiple environmental groups. Sunday was the second day in a planned “week of action” by protesters, which included a live music festival; the APD says that the terrorists used the non-violent protests as cover to descend on the construction site.
A prior riot broke out at the construction site in January when a 26-year-old terrorist shot and injured an Atlanta police officer, and was subsequently killed by return fire. The crowd turned to violence following his death, including attacks against police and the site itself.