Good Riddance. Lock Them Up! 61 indicted in Georgia on racketeering charges connected to 'Stop Cop City' movement https://www.wral.com/story/61-indic...connected-to-stop-cop-city-movement/21033978/ ATLANTA (AP) — Sixty-one people have been indicted in Georgia on racketeering charges following a long-running state investigation into protests against a proposed police and firefighter training facility in the Atlanta area that critics call “Cop City.” In the sweeping indictment, prosecutors allege the defendants are “militant anarchists” who have supported a violent movement that prosecutors trace to the widespread 2020 racial justice protests. The Aug. 29 indictment under the state’s racketeering law, also known as a RICO law, was released by Fulton County officials on Tuesday and was brought by Republican Attorney General Chris Carr. The “Stop Cop City” effort has gone on for more than two years and at times veered into vandalism and violence. Opponents say they fear the Atlanta-area training center will lead to greater militarization of the police and that its construction will exacerbate environmental damage in a poor, majority-Black area. The majority of those indicted were already facing charges stemming from their alleged involvement in the movement. More than three dozen people face domestic terrorism charges in connection to violent protests. Three leaders of a bail fund have been accused of money laundering. And three activists were charged with felony intimidation after authorities said they distributed flyers calling a state trooper a “murderer” for his involvement in the fatal shooting of an environmental protester in the woods. In linking the defendants to the alleged conspiracy, prosecutors have made a huge series of allegations. That includes everything from possessing fire accelerant and throwing Molotov cocktails at police officers, to being reimbursed for glue and food for the activists who spent months camping in the woods near the construction site. Activists leading an ongoing referendum effort against the project immediately condemned the charges, calling them “anti-democratic.” “Chris Carr may try to use his prosecutors and power to build his gubernatorial campaign and silence free speech, but his threats will not silence our commitment to standing up for our future, our community, and our city,” the Cop City Vote coalition said in a statement. Protests against the training center escalated after the fatal shooting in January of 26-year-old protester Manuel Esteban Paez Terán, known as Tortuguita. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation has said state troopers fired in self-defense after Paez Terán shot at them while they cleared protesters from a wooded area near the site of the proposed facility. But the troopers involved weren’t wearing body cameras, and activists have questioned the official narrative. Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens and others say the 85-acre, $90 million facility would replace inadequate training facilities, and would help address difficulties in hiring and retaining police officers that worsened after nationwide protests against police brutality and racial injustice. The demonstrations erupted in the wake of the May 2020 police murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis and the June 2020 police killing of Rayshard Brooks in Atlanta. Those events preceded the public announcement of the proposed training center by months. Numerous instances of violence and vandalism have been linked to the decentralized “Stop Cop City” movement. A police car was set alight at a January protest in downtown Atlanta. In March, more than 150 masked protesters chased off police at the construction site and torched construction equipment before fleeing and blending in with a crowd at a nearby music festival. Those two instances have led to dozens of people being charged with domestic terrorism, though prosecutors have previously admitted they have had difficulty in proving that many of those arrested were in fact those who took part in the violence. RICO charges carry a heavy potential sentence that can be added on top of the penalty for the underlying acts. Georgia’s RICO Act, adopted in 1980, makes it a crime to participate in, acquire or maintain control of an “enterprise” through a “pattern of racketeering activity” or to conspire to do so. “Racketeering activity” means to commit, attempt to commit — or to solicit, coerce or intimidate someone else to commit — one of more than three dozen state crimes listed in the law. At least two such acts are required to meet the standard of a “pattern of racketeering activity,” meaning prosecutors have to prove that a person has engaged in two or more related criminal acts as part of their participation in an enterprise to be convicted under RICO. The case was initially assigned to Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee, the judge overseeing the racketeering case Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis recently brought against former President Donald Trump and 18 others. But McAfee recused himself, saying he had been working with prosecutors on the case prior to his judicial appointment. Fulton County Superior Court Judge Kimberly Esmond Adams is now overseeing the case.
Good Riddance. It is time they hit these bail funds with RICO and money laundering charges. I don't care if they are illegally being created & used to bail out violent left-wing extremists or right-wing extremists -- it's time to charge these violent groups and their funders. I will note the charges are from the office of Fani Willis in Fulton county (with state prosecutor help). This is the same county office which is holding Trump and his associates responsible for their illegal actions.
Not even a little surprised GWB trading old fascists for new fascists and supports suppressing speech:
Let's state it once again so my position is clear. The RICO charges are very justified for these "Stop Cop City" movement criminals. Just as RICO charges are very justified for Trump and his cronies. I don't care if the criminals are left-wing extremists or right-wing extremists -- apply the law. Once again, I will note the charges are from the office of Fani Willis in Fulton county (with state prosecutor help). This is the same county office pushing these RICO charges which is holding Trump and his associates responsible for their illegal actions. Let me also state -- Anyone who does not support RICO charges to prosecute these "Stop Cop City" movement criminals cannot claim they support using RICO charges to prosecute Trump and his cronies. And vice versa. It is either you support both or neither.
Good... lock them up for a long time! Fifty-seven ‘Cop City’ protesters arraigned on racketeering charges Rally held in support of opponents of planned police training facility near Atlanta after attorney general’s sweeping indictment https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/nov/06/atlanta-cop-city-police-protesters-charged-rico-law
They need to keep locking these criminals up. These terrorists are a threat to decent society. Georgia police and FBI conduct Swat-style raids on ‘Cop City’ activists’ homes https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/feb/10/georgia-police-fbi-raids-cop-city-activists-atlanta Police in Georgia, together with federal agencies, are conducting a crackdown on activists involved in a continuing campaign against a controversial police and fire department training center known as “Cop City” that has included acts of arson and sabotage against equipment being used on the project. This week alone saw Atlanta-area raids by law enforcement that took a woman out of her house with no shirt, left a naked photo of another woman on display after ransacking a room and dragged a man by his hair – while arresting none of them. The pre-dawn raids on three houses on Thursday were the third Swat-style operation in residential areas of Atlanta and nearby unincorporated DeKalb county tied to a movement that began in 2021 – and the first in which the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) played a prominent role. The fight against Cop City has attracted national and global headlines, especially after police shot and killed one environmental protester at a campsite in a public park – the first such incident of its kind in US history. At least one of the search warrants for Thursday’s raid seen by the Guardian authorized the FBI to confiscate dozens of items from the raided homes – including laptops, cellphones, “Defend the Atlanta Forest” stickers and posters and personal journals. The operation came after weeks of Atlanta officials promoting a campaign to catch activists linked to arson against construction and police equipment, all the while activists have been committing more acts of sabotage, alternating with nonviolent, civil disobedience. The training center is being built on a 171-acre footprint in a forest south-east of Atlanta. Opposition to the project has come from a wide range of local and national supporters and is centered on concerns such as unchecked police militarization and clearing forests in an era of climate crisis. Atlanta police say the center is needed for “world-class” training. One activist, John Mazurek, was arrested in Thursday’s raid and charged with first-degree arson, in connection to an incident in July in which eight police motorcycles were burned. “More arrests will come soon,” the Atlanta police chief, Darin Schierbaum, told a press conference. Andre Dickens, the Atlanta mayor, told reporters that the right way “to make your voice heard” on the project was by doing things like “going to city council” meetings – even though the same city council has refused to verify and count more than 100,000 petition signatures from Atlanta voters seeking to put the question of whether the training center should be built on the ballot in an upcoming election. Meanwhile, Atlanta officials have been ramping up a publicity campaign offering a $200,000 reward in December for information leading to arrests for arson. Last month 450 billboards promoting the reward were put up in cities such as New York and Seattle. Atlanta police recently announced that the project’s price tag had risen by $20m to nearly $110m, due to increased insurance and other costs tied to opposition against the project. At the same time, activists burned construction equipment at least twice in January, and another pair of activists tied themselves to an Atlanta construction site linked to Brasfield & Gorrie, a company working on Cop City. A social media account explained the dual approach: “There is not two movements, one that dismantles earth-destroying machinery by night, another that coordinates nonviolent direct action by day. There is one movement, dedicated to victory, using methods most suited for the building of serious and capable networks of resistance”. Thursday morning’s raid included agents and officers from the ATF, FBI, Atlanta police and Georgia state patrol. One of three residents at a house raided in the Lakewood neighborhood spoke to the Guardian on condition of anonymity. She woke to blue lights outside her window at approximately 6am on Thursday and heard voices in the hallway outside her room shouting, “Atlanta police! Get out and show both hands in the air!” She had pajama bottoms on, but no top. She grabbed a bathrobe without a belt or tie and asked if she could put on some clothes. “They grabbed me, led me outside and handcuffed me – leaving me completely uncovered,” she said. Officers led her to a squad car, where she remained for “what seemed like hours” – while officers came in and out of the car, her top uncovered the whole time. One took photos of her, insisting, “it’s only of your face”. After some time, she was released. A person living at the house where Mazurek was arrested woke up on Thursday to a flashbang grenade. He jumped out of bed, put on socks, and shouted, “I’m leaving my room!” He got on his knees and looked up to see a Georgia state trooper pointing a gun with a red laser at his face. A trooper “grabbed me by my hair and dragged me on my knees to the back door”, he said. He was also put in a squad car for some time, only to be released. He went to a shed in the back of his house with another one of his roommates. He saw a nude Polaroid photo of his roommate on a table. She said the police had placed it there and started crying. A person who identified herself as “a long-time partner” of Mazurek said the arrest Thursday “feels like desperation on the part of the city, to put a face on their fear-mongering”. She said she was sure there was “no evidence” tying the arrestee to the July incident. Georgia has already made history in its response to Cop City protests, indicting 61 people on Rico or conspiracy charges tied to opposition against the project. The Atlanta Police Foundation – a private, non-profit organization – is behind the training center, using taxpayer and corporate funds. At a press conference in front of the foundation’s midtown Atlanta headquarters, the activist Rev Keyanna Jones highlighted the escalating tactics seen in the raid. “The more they press, the more we gonna push,” Jones said.