ATLANTA — The director of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation said the planned new Atlanta police public training center will be good for the community and that the violence surrounding it must stop.
Channel 2 Investigative Reporter Mark Winne was in DeKalb County, where he spoke to Mike Register after another violent protest over the weekend saw at least 23 people arrested.
Video shows the moments demonstrators dressed in all black broke away from an otherwise peaceful music festival, shot fireworks at police and set construction vehicles on fire.
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On Monday, the Georgia State Patrol returned to the training center site off Key Road to get a look at the damage and investigate what police are calling a “coordinated attack.”
Several agencies stepped in to help during the violence on Sunday and arrested or detained nearly three dozen people. Of all of the arrests, only two people were from Georgia. The rest are from the U.S, Canada and as far away as France.
Register was quick to say that what the demonstrators did is not peaceful protest. It’s criminal and terrorist activity.
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“We cant have 150 plus people deciding that they are going to charge a construction site, burn equipment and they’re going to put law enforcement officers safety and lives in jeopardy,” Register said. “We are not going to tolerate that!”
Register said he doesn’t even think of the demonstrators as protesters.
“I call it a crowd of criminals,” Register said.
Register said that state, federal and local investigators led by the GBI will fold what happened Sunday around the site into an investigation underway for months into dozens of acts tied to opposition to the new training center. The investigation is building a basis for one sweeping indictment prosecutors from the Georgia Attorney General’s office and DeKalb District Attorney’s office are expected to soon ask a grand jury to return.
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Winne asked Register if he was working toward a racketeering indictment, but Register said that’s something the attorney general’s office will have to address.
Activists insist that Atlanta police and other agencies are responding to “peaceful” protests with violence themselves.
Aurielle Marie is an activist who is part of a coalition of groups and individuals in the so-called “Stop Cop City” movement.
“When it comes to calling a body, a gathering body of 150 people “criminal,” that is a gross mischaracterization that they’re using to absolve themselves,” Marie said. “Who would you be more afraid of would you be afraid of a 20 year old who maybe got his hands on a roman candle in the middle of a park or would you be afraid of an armed and dangerous militarized police force.”
Register said weaponized fireworks and other objects were directed toward police. He said he fought overseas to defend the right to peaceful protests, which he calls a “cornerstone of our country.”
Register said it’s telling that only two of the protesters arrested during this incident were from Georgia.
Marie said that if the concern really is about outside agitators, Atlanta police would not be building the training facility and marketing it to outside law enforcement bodies.
Register said the new training facility would actually improve the relationship between police and the community, including confrontations with the potential to turn violent.
Marie disagrees.
“There’s no data that supports that giving them $90 million to build a playground is going to make Atlanta more safe,” Marie said.
Winne made phone calls to try to determine if the Atlanta Public Safety training center is being marketed to outside agencies and if so, to whom. So far, he hasn’t heard back.
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