Authorities in downtown Atlanta are investigating after a group vandalized the Immigration and Customs Enforcement field office late Saturday night.
An unknown number of people caused damage to the building, which is on Ted Turner Drive. The building also houses the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Justice.
Credit: Ben Hendren
Credit: Ben Hendren
Several windows were broken and the facility itself was spray-painted, according to Federal Protective Service spokesman Robert Sperling.
The vandalism occurred as demonstrations across the U.S. on Saturday night and early Sunday targeted law enforcement agencies and officials.
Federal officers have not made any arrests in connection with the Atlanta incident. It is not clear if any arrests were made by other agencies.
The incident came shortly after a protest outside the DHS building Saturday evening.
Demonstrators gathered in solidarity with protesters in Portland, Oregon, who are pushing back against the presence of federal agents in the city. On Saturday, Portland demonstrators squared off against federal agents outside a courthouse.
Protests took a violent turn in several other U.S. cities over the weekend, with demonstrators forcing police in Seattle to retreat into a station house and setting fire to vehicles in California and Virginia.
A protest against police violence in Austin, Texas, turned deadly when a witness says the driver of a car that drove through a crowd of marchers opened fire on an armed demonstrator who approached the vehicle. And someone was shot and wounded in Aurora, Colorado, after a car drove through a protest there, authorities said.
The unrest Saturday and early Sunday stemmed from the weeks of protests over racial injustice and the police treatment of people of color that flared up after the May 25 death of George Floyd in Minneapolis. Floyd, who was Black and handcuffed, died after a white police officer used his knee to pin down Floyd’s neck for nearly eight minutes while Floyd begged for air.
Credit: Steve Schaefer
Credit: Steve Schaefer
Saturday’s incident came three weeks after the Georgia Department of Public Safety headquarters in Atlanta was damaged after a group of apparent protesters vandalized the building.
Between 60 and 100 people wearing dark clothing approached the DPS building on United Avenue about 1 a.m. July 5, the Georgia State Patrol said in a statement at the time. The building serves as the headquarters for GSP and houses several other state agencies.
At the time, organizers of protests against racial injustice and police brutality said the people involved in the vandalism were not part of the peaceful protest movement.
The Associated Press contributed to this article.
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