At least six people were arrested in Atlanta on Saturday evening during a protest that started in response to the fatal police shooting of an activist, CNN reported.
Addressing a presser, Atlanta Police Chief Darin Schierbaum said that the protesters were marching peacefully but a group within the crowd later started their illegal acts. The crowds even broke the windows and attacked police cruisers, Schierbaum added.
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Atlanta is the capital and most populous city of the US state of Georgia and has a population of roughly around 4.96 lakhs.
He further stated that the police had arrested six people and were continuing to investigate whether there were any others involved in illegal activity, the chief said. Three businesses sustained damage to their windows, according to CNN.
Social media footage showed a police cruiser on fire in the downtown area, and video from CNN affiliate WANF showed broken windows at a Wells Fargo bank.
The protests come in response to a planned USD 90 million, 85-acre law enforcement training facility – dubbed “Cop City” by its opponents – and just days after the police killing of a 26-year-old activist near the training centre site.
Earlier, on Wednesday, the activist’s fatal police shooting took place in the morning when the authorities were removing people from the site of the future facility, CNN reported.
The killed activist was identified as Manuel Esteban Paez Teran.
Activists associated with movements protesting the facility, said Teran was a “forest defender” working to fight environmental racism. He was a “sweet, warm, very smart and caring” person, they said.
Teran’s mother told CNN on Saturday night that she felt angry and powerless over Teran’s death.
“He was attacked,” she added.
Heartbroken, the victim’s mother said, “He was not a violent person. He was a pacifist. He would tell me that all the time. ‘I am a pacifist.’ He wouldn’t even kill an animal,” Belkis Teran told CNN.
“Tortuguita,” the nickname Teran went by, was because of their love for turtle conservation, the mother said.
