Raleigh vandalism case tied to Atlanta police facility opposition. What we know.

A little-noticed act of vandalism at a Raleigh cement plant may be linked with opposition to a planned police training center in Atlanta, federal officials said following a similar act in South Carolina.

A South Carolina man faces charges in connection with the arson of a pair of Thomas Cement trucks at one of the company’s facilities in Dorchester County, northwest of Charleston. The site was also spray painted with “you build it, we burn it” and “From Weelaunee.”

Those messages seem to refer to the Weelaunee forest, the site of a controversial 85-acre police and fire training facility the City of Atlanta plans to build in DeKalb County, Georgia. Opposition to the facility, dubbed “cop city” by detractors, has been fierce, ranging from concerns about militarizing police to razing part of a forest that has been called one of the “lungs of Atlanta.”

The Dorchester County’s Sheriff’s Office said in a release that after learning what Weelaunee referred to, they contacted the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. It was ATF officials, Dorchester County said in a release, who identified the two other incidents at Thomas Concrete facilities, including one in Raleigh.

Raleigh vandalism

Around 6 a.m. on Nov. 20, 2023, Raleigh police found eight trucks at Thomas Cement’s plant on North West street damaged. The report gives no information about what damage was done, and a police spokesman did not respond to a follow-up question requesting that detail.

The damage totaled $14,400, with the damage to trucks ranging from $300 to $2,500, according to the report.

Additionally, the report said vandals broke three windows by throwing rocks through them and spray painted “stop cop city” on a wall.

The Dorchester County report said ATF officials had told investigators there that the Raleigh incident involved the burning of 16 cement trucks. The News & Observer has not been able to find records of such an incident.

Corey Ray, a spokesman for the ATF, told The N&O, “We’re assisting in the investigation, but it looks like local law enforcement partners are managing the work for now. Same for the similar incident in S.C. over the holidays.”

An employee at Thomas Concrete’s Atlanta headquarters did not respond this week to a request for comment about the incident.

A different account

Another account of the Raleigh incident was posted to a blog called Scenes from the Atlanta Forest, which anonymously describes actions undertaken by the facility’s opponents.

That account says that people “snuck onto” Thomas’ site on the evening of Nov. 19, 2023, and cut the valve stems of about six concrete trucks.

Thomas Concrete was targeted, the post says, because it is contracted to help build the “cop city” police training site. The authors also describe smashing windows and spray painting “Stop Cop City” and “For Torts” at the site.

Signed by “some anarchists,” the post says, “Love to everyone resisting in whatever ways they can.”

Training facility opposition

The planned public safety center was controversial from the beginning, in part because it was planned for the site of an Atlanta Prison Farm that was operated from 1920 to about 1990.

Opponents of the facility have argued that the site, with its fraught history, should be returned to the community as a public green space and the funds allotted for the public safety center spent elsewhere.

The center is set to include numerous training facilities, including a shooting range, a burn building, a vehicle training pad and a mock village for police training exercises that will contain a convenience store, hotel and nightclub, among other features.

Atlanta officials and supporters, including the Atlanta Police Foundation, which is funding about two-thirds of the project, argue the center will help police with retention efforts in addition to increasing professionalism.

As part of an effort to stymie construction, some opponents to the facility started living in the Weelaunee Forest and calling themselves “forest defenders.”

Last January, during an attempt to clear opponents from the forest, police shot and killed a prominent activist named Tortuguita. The activist’s legal name was Manuel Paez Terán and, according to The Guardian, the shooting marked the first time that U.S. police have killed an environmental activist during a protest.

An autopsy would later reveal that Tortuguita had been shot 14 times, leaving 57 wounds. Police have maintained that Tortuguita fired first, but no gunfire residue was found on Tortuguita’s hands and an autopsy ordered by Tortuguita’s family concluded that Tortuguita’s hands were raised at the time of the shooting.

A Georgia district attorney who reviewed the case concluded in October that officers were justified and did not bring any charges.

Some protesters of the project have called for opponents to take action against contractors building the facility, banks and insurers supporting it and the people who want to build a movie studio nearby. A website that identifies targets throughout the country suggests actions like flooding decision makers’ phones or posting flyers.

In July 2022, The Charlotte Observer reported that activists opposing the project chained themselves to the door of a Charlotte office building that held the offices of Brasfield & Gorrie, a construction firm building the facility. The activists left bike locks on the front door and signs opposing the project on both the front and back doors.

In September, Georgia officials brought racketeering charges against 61 people they called “militant anarchists” and defined as being part of an organization that committed criminal acts to prevent the facility from being built, Fox 5 Atlanta reported at the time.

This story was produced with financial support from the Hartfield Foundation and Green South Foundation (formerly 1Earth Fund), in partnership with Journalism Funding Partners, as part of an independent journalism fellowship program. The N&O maintains full editorial control of the work.