The protesters marched in a “peaceful manner” Saturday evening down a central Atlanta street but a group within the crowd later began breaking windows and attacking police cruisers, Atlanta Police Chief Darin Schierbaum said in a news conference.
Police 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, he added, CNN reported.
Social media footage showed a police cruiser on fire in the downtown area.
The protests come in response to a planned $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 site of the training center.
The activist’s fatal police shooting unfolded Wednesday morning, during what authorities said was a clearing operation to remove people from the site of the future facility. Opponents of the center have camped out in the area for months in an attempt to halt construction.
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation said law enforcement officers spotted an individual in a tent in the woods and gave verbal commands, but the individual allegedly did not comply and shot a Georgia State Patrol Trooper, according to a news release.
Officers returned fire and fatally wounded the individual. A handgun recovered from the individual’s possession matched the projectile from the trooper’s wound, the GBI said.
The person killed was identified as Manuel Esteban Paez Terán.
MNA/PR
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