With all eyes trained on the Fulton County Courthouse, a group of protesters carrying signs and chanting arrived on Monday afternoon. Their refrain had nothing to do with the possible fourth indictment of former President Donald Trump.
“Stop Cop City!” the group of about 20 chanted as they pushed through a throng of reporters and law enforcement officers, before being asked to relocate to a different city block.
No Trump demonstrations have been staged outside the courthouse Monday, as prosecutors inside present their election interference case against him and his allies to a grand jury.
The protesters, carrying signs about the environmental impact of the proposed Atlanta public training center and decrying police violence, were directed by Fulton County deputies across the street as they approached the courthouse steps. Keyanna Jones, a member of the group Community Builds, described the interaction with police as “not peaceful.”
Kamau Franklin, organizer with opponents of the training center, said police officers were continually changing directions given to protesters. He said they were directed to a separate location blocks away because there was “too much commotion” around the courthouse.
“For the police to stop us from (walking on public sidewalk) and tell us they have a pin four blocks away or around the corner from our designated site of protest tells us that they don’t know the law, they don’t care about the law, they don’t understand the Constitution,” he said.
The Fulton County Sheriff’s Office said the corner of Martin Luther King Jr. Drive and Central Avenue, where the protesters were directed, is designated for First Amendment protected activities.
Credit: arvin.temkar@ajc.com
Credit: arvin.temkar@ajc.com
The protest comes a day after organizers announced they’ve collected around 80,000 signatures for a referendum petition, an attempt to overturn the lease agreement between the city of Atlanta and the Atlanta Police Foundation for the construction of the training facility.
Organizers plan to continue to collect signatures until Monda, Aug. 21, when they will turn over the collected signatures to the city clerk for review. The city council has plans to hire outside legal counsel to validate the signatures.
The city of Atlanta filed a motion for a stay in a judge’s decision that extended the collection period and allowed non-Atlanta residents to collect the signatures. On Monday, a federal court judge denied that motion.
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