Atlanta rally for protester killed by police turns violent, six arrested

I had a pretty strong suspicion that when this group called on people to “wear black” it wasn’t just to mourn.

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And sure enough Saturday night the gathering quickly turned violent.

Dressed in all black with masks over their faces, activists threw rocks and reportedly lit fireworks in front of a building that houses the Atlanta Police Foundation, shattering large glass windows near Peachtree Street and Andrew Young Boulevard.

Just after 6 p.m., police said they set an Atlanta Police cruiser on fire, smashed the windows of a Wells Fargo bank and vandalized walls with anti-police graffiti in an area that is typically bustling with tourists. The protesters have dubbed the training facility as “Cop City.”

Just before 7 p.m., police said “order has been restored to the downtown space.”

It started out at 5pm, just before dark, with chanting, “Stop Cop City.” After about 45 minutes they started to march.

Within a few minutes of starting to march, someone had set a police cruiser on fire.

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Here’s another angle on the burning car.

This might be the same car in the first clip below. As you can see, they are using their banners to hide the criminal activity from cameras. A bit later some antifa goons were smashing ATMs and glass at a Wells Fargo bank (2nd clip below).

Some clear photos showing the damage at Wells Fargo:

The targeting of the Wells Fargo isn’t accidental and it’s not just because these protesters are anti-capitalists, though I’m sure they are. It’s also because Wells Fargo is one of the institutions who support the Atlanta Police Foundation.

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Gov. Brian Kemp condemned the vandalism and thanked the police.

I don’t know why members of the media keep embarrassing themselves like this but here’s a mostly peaceful description of the march.

If something is on fire in the background, it was not a “largely peaceful protest.” It was people acting peaceful for 45 minutes until it got dark enough for them to do what they really came to do. Also some additional video of the vandalism last night, this time at the Atlanta Police Foundation

The vandalism spree didn’t last very long. Fairly soon police got the streets back under control and made multiple arrests:

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More arrests and lots of screeching from the arrestees.

Police said the group had intended to continue their spree of destruction had they not been stopped.

Atlanta Police Chief Darin Schierbaum said during a news conference that authorities made six arrests Saturday and recovered explosive devices after the protesters damaged property along Peachtree Street, a corridor of hotels and restaurants. He said authorities halted the violence within two blocks and no citizens or law enforcement officers were injured.

“We can tell now, early in this investigation, this was not the focus tonight just to damage the windows of three buildings and set a police car on fire,” Schierbaum said. “The intent was to continue to do harm, and that did not happen.”

All but one of the people arrested Saturday night were from out of state (and the only person from Georgia wasn’t from Atlanta). So once again, it looks like the blather about what the “local community” wants is cover for people from other parts of the country to come in and use Atlanta as a battleground for their issues. All six were hit with multiple charges including domestic terrorism. Here are the mugshots:

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One witness interview in this local news clip below described it as being “almost like some third world country type stuff.” I doubt this will be the end of this but I don’t see any plans for more protests at the moment. My guess is that police are going to finish clearing the forest soon before the “forest defenders” have a chance to regroup.

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