More than five dozen activists have been charged with an illegal conspiracy to stop construction of an Atlanta police training center, derisively called 'Cop City,' that has been the target of sometimes violent protests in recent months.
People protest agains the controversial "Cop City" project as the clear cutting of trees begins near Atlanta, Georgia, U.S., March 31, 2023. REUTERS/Cheney Orr/ File PhotoATLANTA, Sept 5 - More than five dozen activists have been charged with an illegal conspiracy to stop construction of an Atlanta police training center, derisively called "Cop City," that has been the target of sometimes violent protests in recent months.
The defendants were charged with violations of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, commonly known as the RICO Act. The law, enacted in 1970, was originally intended as an enhanced tool to curb organized crime activity. "Each individual charged in this indictment knowingly joined the conspiracy in an attempt to prevent the training center from being built," the indictment reads.The indictment describes the members as being part of an Atlanta-based "self-identified coalition and enterprise of militant anarchists, eco-activists and community organizers," who are also "anti-police."
It also aims to stop the expansion of what the website calls a "hyper-militarized" police force, which it links to a series of police killings of unarmed Black men across the U.S. in recent years. One of those killings, the fatal 2020 shooting of Rayshard Brooks in Atlanta, helped fuel nationwide protests triggered by the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis the previous month.
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