Chris Carr, the Republican attorney general of Georgia, announced on Tuesday the indictment of 61 individuals allegedly involved in Antifa efforts to prevent the construction of a police training facility outside of Atlanta.
These activists, most of whom don’t live in Georgia, are accused of violating the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, a state law that allows for the criminal prosecution of organized crime. Of the 61 defendants, some faced additional charges of domestic terrorism, attempted arson, and money laundering.
Carr said in a press release his office is primarily concerned with prosecuting violent acts in the state’s case.
“As this indictment shows, looking the other way when violence occurs is not an option in Georgia,” said Carr. “If you come to our state and shoot a police officer, throw Molotov cocktails at law enforcement, set fire to police vehicles, damage construction equipment, vandalize private homes and businesses, and terrorize their occupants, you can and will be held accountable.”
The indictment focuses on Defend the Atlanta Forest, an environmental group described by the attorney general’s office as an “anarchist, anti-police, and anti-business extremist organization.”
The indictment says the group’s purpose “is to occupy of parts or all of 381 forested acres in DeKalb County, Georgia,” land that is owned by the Atlanta Police Foundation and leased by the Atlanta government. By doing this, they would halt the construction of the Atlanta Public Safety Training Center.
The Defend the Atlanta Forest movement started organizing in 2020 following the police murders of George Floyd in Minneapolis, Minn., and Rayshard Brooks in Atlanta. Both incidents occurred months before the training center was announced.
The Cop City Vote Coalition, which is trying to force a public vote on the public center, objected to the recent indictment. The group of organizers condemned the “blatantly authoritarian RICO charges” brought forward by Carr following his announcement.
The indictment alleged a total of 225 “overt acts” took place in the city, from July 5, 2020, up to about two weeks ago.
Instances of the reported violence during that time included throwing rocks, bricks, and Molotov cocktails at police vehicles, vandalizing private property, attacking private citizens and utility workers, and shooting state troopers. Police responded to the criminal actions by arresting protesters, and in one case, killed an Antifa member who shot at the cops.
One high-profile person involved in the riots was Thomas Jurgens, a staff attorney for Southern Poverty Law Center.
“We will not waver when it comes to keeping people safe, enforcing the rule of law, and ensuring those who engage in criminal activity are vigorously pursued and aggressively prosecuted,” Carr said.
Notably, the case was filed in Fulton County last week in the same jurisdiction that District Attorney Fani Willis filed a RICO indictment against former president Donald Trump on August 14. Trump currently faces charges related to claims about 2020 election fraud, per his fourth indictment.