Gov. Kemp extends State of Emergency, order for National Guard troops in Atlanta

ATLANTA — Gov. Brian Kemp extended an executive order that authorized the call-up of up to 1,000 National Guard troops in Georgia.

The order will now expire July 27, according to Monday’s order.

“To ensure public safety & prevent violence, I have renewed the State of Emergency authorizing as many as 1,000 Georgia Guard for active duty. They will protest state property to allow state police to patrol our streets, especially in City of Atlanta,” the governor tweeted Monday evening.

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Kemp originally signed the state of emergency on July 6 after a violent Fourth of July weekend in Atlanta. Thirty-one people were shot in 11 incidents between July 3 and July 5. Five people, including an 8-year-old girl, died.

The Georgia State Patrol headquarters were also vandalized by protesters that weekend.

“Peaceful protests were hijacked by criminals with a dangerous, destructive agenda. Now, innocent Georgians are being targeted, shot, and left for dead,” Kemp said when he signed the order on July 6.

Last week, Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms spoke exclusively to Channel 2 Anchor Justin Farmer about Kemp’s decision to bring in the National Guard. The mayor said she and the governor have not been seeing eye-to-eye when he comes to his response to the violence or COVID-19.

“But to announce that the National Guard was coming -- it was not discussed with me, it was not discussed with our police chief,” Bottoms said. “To me, it speaks to showmanship and this need to show that there are tanks on the streets of Atlanta.”

Cox Media Group