‘International group’ involved in attack on Atlanta’s ‘Cop City’

At least some of the nearly three dozen people arrested for hurling Molotov cocktails and bricks at cops during a protest at a future Atlanta police training facility are allegedly part of an “international group.”

Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr told Fox News on Monday that some of the 35 people detained over Sunday’s violent protest outside the Atlanta Public Safety Training Center — dubbed “Cop City” — were French and Canadian citizens.

“Some of those arrested yesterday were from Massachusetts and New York and France and Canada,” Carr said.

“So this is a national network, an international group of people that are organized to come to our state to undermine a public safety training center.”

The names of those arrested hadn’t been released as of Monday morning, but Atlanta Police Chief Darin Schierbaum said many were not from the Atlanta area.

“I can tell you just looking at the initial reports, we continue to see a number of individuals not from Atlanta, Georgia, that are present tonight undertaking criminal activities to destabilize the construction of the fire and police training center,” Schierbaum said at a midnight press conference.

At least 23 people have been booked on domestic terrorism charges at the DeKalb County Jail, according to records, 11 Alive reported.

The flare-up unfolded when protesters, dressed in all black, started throwing rocks, bricks, fireworks and Molotov cocktails at cops in what police have described as a “coordinated attack.”

Several pieces of construction equipment were also set on fire at the 85-acre site of the future training center in DeKalb County, Schierbaum said.

Surveillance footage captured towering plumes of smoke and flames rising from the site after the heavy equipment was set alight.

“This was a very violent attack, very violent attack,” Schierbaum said. “This wasn’t about a public safety training center. This was about anarchy … and we are addressing that quickly.”

Multiple cops from neighboring communities were called in to help de-escalate the situation, according to Schierbaum.

Asked if any protesters were injured during the arrests, the police chief said some had complained about “minor discomfort” and were attended to by medical personnel.

Schierbaum added that no officers were injured.

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp said the people involved “chose destruction and vandalism over legitimate protest” — adding that it showed their alleged “radical intent.”

“As I’ve said before, domestic terrorism will NOT be tolerated in this state,” Kemp said in a statement. “We will not rest until those who use violence and intimidation for an extremist end are brought to full justice.”

Several protests have erupted at the construction site ever since the $90 million training center was approved by the Atlanta City Council in 2021 — including one that saw a 26-year-old environmental activist shot dead by cops in January.

The center — funded largely by donations to the nonprofit Atlanta Police Foundation — would include classrooms, administrative buildings, a shooting range and driving course to practice chases.

It is also set to include a “burn building” for firefighters to practice putting out fires and a mock strip where authorities can rehearse raids.

Opponents have claimed the facility will be used by cops to practice “urban warfare.”