Report Backs – Scenes from the Atlanta Forest

MARCH/VIGIL IN VANCOUVER, CANADA

Posted on January 30, 2023 - January 30, 2023 by scenes

Solidarity from Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh territory (so-called Vancouver, Canada).

On Monday, January 23rd a crowd of masked people coalesced and took over Cambie street at a major intersection. We walked up the road, singing, chanting, and holding signs to express our support for the Atlanta forest defenders and our rage at another life lost to police violence. At one point in the walk, an Indigenous man leaned out of his apartment window facing onto the street to drum along with our singing.

After blocking traffic for a 2 kilometers walk we arrived at an island of greenery in the concrete jungle and dissappeared among the trees, where we shared words and silence in honour of Tortuguita.

Stay strong, forest defenders!

A group of protesters holding signs march on a city street. One sign says "REST IN POWER MANUEL PAEZ TERAN" and another says "ACAB", and is underlined twice. The faces of the protesters are blurred. It is twilight.

A green sign surrounded by candles reads "REST IN POWER TORTUGUITA MURDERED BY ATL POLICE" in black letters.

A sign with lit candles near it says "LOVE NOT LAW" in white font. The "A" in "Law" is an anarchist circle-A symbol. The background of the sign is a black and red anarcho-communist flag.

A picture of Tortuguita is lit by several vigil candles. Several zines surround the photo and candles. They include several "Creeker" zines, volumes 1-3. They also include both volume 1 and 2 of "The Creeker Companion." A stack of "Beneath the Concrete, The Forest" zines are also present.

Several signs lay in a stack. One sign has a design of a tree and says "Tortuguita" with an anarchist circle-A symbol in the bottom right corner. The others say "ACAB", "REST IN PEACE AND POWER MANUEL PAEZ TERAN", and another is out of frame but the words "RIP" are visible.

A picture of Tortuguita with the words RIP above it is lit by several vigil candles. Just out of frame is a sign upon which only the letters "GUITA- RED BY- ICE" are visible because the sign is out of frame.

Submitted anonymously over email

Philadelphia: Vigil and Stroll for Tortuguita

Posted on January 23, 2023 by scenes

On Saturday 1/21 there was a vigil for Tortuguita Manuel Teran. A group of about 40 adults and children placed candles and homemade signs by the turtle in Clark Park.

People spontaneously made speeches about Tortuguita’s death. The speeches touched on people’s experience of them, grief, martyrdom, and continuing to struggle. People called on each other to target cop city’s sponsors and the contractors responsible for building.

After people had been speaking for a while a small group broke off from the vigil. They took the street with banners. Barricades from a nearby construction site were pulled into the street to block cops and traffic. As the march moved graffiti memorializing Tortuguita and against police was tagged. A realty office had its windows smashed.

Even though Philly is far from Atlanta, Tortuguita’s death has been deeply felt here. We are angry. We are watching. We are acting. Cop city will never be built.

RIP Tortuguita
Neither innocent nor guilty
Neither terrorists nor protesters
Simply anarchists!
A warm embrace to those arrested in Atlanta, Seattle and everywhere else
Death to civilization

Submitted anonymously over email

Windows Smashed at a Noise Demo Outside of DeKalb County Jail

Posted on December 15, 2022 by scenes

On Tuesday December 13th there was a raid in the forest where five were arrested after police brutalized them with tear gas and pepper balls.

Forest defenders swiftly called for a noise demonstration at the DeKalb County Jail in solidarity with the five people arrested during the raid. By 8pm protesters began to amass near the facility.

Sheriffs on foot lined the perimeter of the jail as a choir of twenty five voices, a dozen drums, 2 guitars, a cello, and various handheld noisemakers approached. Jail administrators peered down from office windows as protesters tossed smoked bombs in the road and chanted “1312, we are all here for you!” and “no forest, no peace”.

With our flashing lights, lasers, and binoculars we gazed up, scouring the prison walls for evidence of folks inside hearing our call. We were quickly greeted by prisoners waving, frantically scrubbing the dust from their windows, and straining to peer down at the raucous below. We saw a few dozen of them throughout the demonstration.

We heard sounds of the prisoners banging back to us from inside their cells. Fifteen minutes in, one rowdy prisoner was spotted lighting a fire outside their cell window, which appeared to have been smashed out for the occasion.

Peering through binoculars, one noise-maker noticed an arm waving a sheet out of a third story window that also was smashed. After quieting the band, protestors and the two unknown prisoners shouted back and forth. “I love y’all” yelled the prisoners, “We love you too”! And all in agreement, “fuck the police!” “1,2,3,” the prisoner led the forest defenders in a chant — “fuck! the police!”

“There’s nothing that evokes such a feeling of solidarity— all the people at the windows —even though we are strangers to one another, we felt united in our determination against crude imbalance of power and systematic injustice” – a forest defender

This is not the first time a noise demonstration at DeKalb County Jail got rowdy. We and those locked inside who smashed their windows are part of a multiyear tradition at DeKalb County Jail. In 2019 at one noise demo protesters went inside the jail, fought the police and at another soon after prisoners smashed over a dozen windows throwing down mold to the protesters revealing the horrific conditions they are trapped in.

The fight to Stop Cop City is a struggle not just for a world without a police training facility in the Weelaunee Forest but also for a world without prisons.

Submitted anonymously over email

Report Back On The Fight Between Milsap/Dozer/Cops and Forest Defenders

Posted on August 2, 2022 - August 4, 2022 by scenes

On the final day of the fourth week of action, forest defenders awoke to shouts about police activity in the recently reopened Intrenchment Creek/ Weelaunee People’s Park parking lot.

We arrived to find an angry man named Anthony Wayne James sitting in an excavator and threatening to destroy the gazebo, porta potties,paved trails, and to re-close the barriers at the front of the park, effectively re-closing the public infrastructure. A small number of forest defenders blocked the excavator with only their bodies, including a few who remained under the gazebo while it was struck by the excavator bucket.

More forest defenders soon arrived and began to drive back the excavator with rocks and other projectiles. The irate operator had two Dekalb County police officers to back him up, as well as two other men waiting on the street. It was soon revealed that one of those was Ryan Millsap himself. Millsap believes he is the owner of the land in question, after a controversial land-swap agreement between the Dekalb County government and Blackhall Studios sought to give the land over to the film company so that they could develop it into the largest soudnstage complex on Earth. Millsap has since sold much of his holdings in the company in a fashion that nullifies the agreements with the County government and gives, he believes, Millsap personal ownership of the land with few or no obligations to the public.

After a brief interlude, in which forest defenders oriented themselves, the crowd of a few dozen advanced on the attackers. Masked defenders threw rocks at the County police and broke windows out of the truck that was used to carry the excavator in on a flatbed trailer. With the excavator outside the park, a barricade was erected to keep it from re-entering, and volleys of rocks and canned sparkling water kept the police and workers back. Ryan Millsap fled in another vehicle after he was called out by name. When the windows of the excavator were broken, Anthony Wayne James reappeared and repeatedly threatened to shoot all the forest defenders and motioned as if he had a gun several times. Millsap appeared to oversea all of this from a distance. Undeterred by his threats, defenders held the barricades and drove the attackers all the way to the end of the block.

With the immediate threat gone, a search through the truck left in the parking lot revealed a number of contracts for Blackhall Studios, Blackhall Rental Company, Anthony Wayne James drivers license and numerous credit cards. The registration for the vehicle revealed that it was owned personally by Ryan Millsap himself. A great cheer of delight went up after this news was spread, and the mechanic crew stripped the car completely, damaging each and every component of the Ram 5500 that was purchased for $62,500 by Millsap in 2020. The crowd dispersed, having assured the safety of park attendees, and the sanctity of the land. A few hours later, some anonymous individuals burned the truck.

After being held through the morning to ensure no reentry for the police or Millsap and his goons, the barricade was dismantled and the park was open again to the public. By evening, hundreds of people arrived to the forest for the final night of an autonomously organized music festival, passing through the barriers and past the burned-out vehicle, which became something of a public installation and photographic back-drop.

-Received Anonymously Over Email

Tow Truck set on fire in South Atlanta Forest & Mini excavator scared off

Posted on July 31, 2022 - August 1, 2022 by scenes

Early Friday July.29th, a tow truck was sent to tow various community members & forest defenders vehicles from the Welaunee People’s Park… Several different autonomous groups took action to stop tow truck, one by slashing tires, smashing windows, graffiti, & generally fucking it up, & a mini excavator was also subsequently ushered out of parking lot near woods & cops kept at bay.
Later, another group came through & set that evil thing (tow truck) on fire.
The tow truck is no more, & we hope this serves as a warning to other tow trucks & various machines thinking about entering the forest to evict or destroy the woods, that you will inevitably suffer the same fate.
DEFEND THE FOREST! No cop city! No Black Hall sound stage everrrrrrr!
Through the leaves of a tree, a truck is seen burning in a gravel parkng lot.
-Received Anonymously Over Email

Banner Drop in Lenapehoking in Solidarity with the Weelaunee Forest Defenders

Posted on July 29, 2022 by scenes

Here's some video of the radical artwork in Brooklyn showing solidarity with comrades in Atlanta who are fighting to defend the ATL forest & #StopCopCity! pic.twitter.com/Rvx6OgGieV

— Ash J (@AshAgony) July 29, 2022

In solidarity with the week of action to defend the Weelaunee forest, a banner was dropped at Broadway and Havemeyer on occupied Canarsie Lenape Land (so called “Brooklyn NYC”) on Thursday July 28th. It continues to hang there thru Friday afternoon seen by both train-goers and a constant stream of car-users.

The earth and its people will one day be free again! No police, no pipelines, no prisons! Shut Down Rikers! No New Jails.

NYC to ATL❤️‍🔥

-Received Anonymously Over Email

Orlando USA Banner Drop In Solidarity With Forest Defenders

Posted on July 29, 2022 by scenes

In solidarity with forest defenders <3

From Orlando with love and rage! We will carry the spirit of defiance

seen these past months in defense of the wild to the placated streets of

our city. A wild rage has been released, we carry it in our hearts.

The flame burns on!

-1312

ORL to ATL

-Received Anonymously Over Email

DTF Flyers Wheatpasted Throughout The Twin Cities

Posted on July 28, 2022 - July 28, 2022 by scenes

During the fourth week of action to defend the forest, posters were wheat-pasted around several neighborhoods of the Twin Cities.

You can find these posters and more at defendtheatlantaforest.org and making your own wheat-paste is incredibly simple, with recipes easily available online.

-Received Anonymously Over Email

WINNEMUCCA INDIAN COLONY DA REPORT BACK

Posted on July 27, 2022 by scenes

The Winnemucca Indian Colony, on Paiute and Shoshone land in so-called Winnemucca, Nevada, is under attack from self-appointed tribal chairperson Judy Rojo and her crooked council, none of whom even live on the colony or in Nevada. Judy is not recognized by the residents and elders of the Winnemucca Indian Colony. Although the colony was part of a forced removal project intended for “homeless Indians,” Judy Rojo charges the residents rent and began demolishing their homes and forcefully evicting them in November of 2021. The 20 acres of land where the WIC residents live today was purchased in 1928 by the government from the Central Pacific Railway. Many of the elders have lived on this land for decades and are second generation residents. Judy Rojo and her contracted goon, Bob McNichols of REZBuilders, have demolished 8 structures and homes on the colony so far without the consent of the residents.

Judy Rojo has also stolen 320 acres that has ‘legally’ belonged to the Winnemucca Indian Colony since 1918 under colonial law. She is building homes and a tribal building, which has not been approved by the colony residents. On the 320, Judy built and is using the Water Canyon Dispensary to steal and launder millions of dollars from WIC residents. The dispensary is currently expanding to increase their profits. This is a land grab. The identity of the non-native dispensary owner collaborating with Judy to launder money is unknown.

In April of 2022, machines were destroyed and two buildings, the tribal building on the 320 acres, and a deceased elder’s home that Judy seized to turn into a Bureau of Indian Affairs office, burned down, totaling approximately 1.3 million dollars in damages.

Under Judy Rojo, these development projects on the 320 will not benefit the colony residents. The BIA police have been terrorizing, arresting, and physically assaulting elders, residents, and invited protectors since November 2021 when demolition began and before. One officer, Charlie Etheredge, even murdered someone on the Fort McDermitt reservation and gave an invited protector a black eye. Since REZBuilders put up a barbed wire fence around the entire colony, with contracted BIA patrolling as prison guards, reporting to Judy and Bob and referring to them as their bosses, the colony has functionally been a prisoners-of-war camp. Because of the blockade, the residents have often been unable to receive the care and mutual aid they need, including house repairs, medical support, and food donations. Even residents’ families have been barred from entering the colony. BIA arrested elders whose homes have been demolished for trying to return. Currently the elders are being coerced into attending virtual fake hearings in a false court made by Judy and her council.

In response to this violence, the suppliers of Judy’s 320 building projects were targeted. On 7/7/22 Western Nevada Supply Company headquarters in Sparks, NV was vandalized. Multiple project trailers in a supply yard had electrical wires cut, tail lights removed, and messages of: “end contracts with Judy Rojo”, and “stop colonizing Winnemucca” spray-painted in black and red. On 7/8, a similar action occurred against Western Nevada Supply Company in Winnemucca. Bike locks were used around entrances/gates, the door locks filled with super glue, windows were blacked out and a message of “End contracts with Judy Rojo,” was spray-painted. On 7/9, Arnold Machinery in Elko, NV, who supplies some of the heavy equipment to Judy, was vandalized. Windows were blacked out and a message of “End contracts with Judy Rojo,” was spray-painted. Arnold Machinery is likely not the only company supplying heavy equipment to Judy. Attempts were made to smash windows at both Western Nevada Supply Company targets, but be warned, the glass proved to be thick.

Here is a non-exhaustive list of targets carrying out colonization and genocide in so-called Winnemucca, Nevada. If any of the people and companies listed below do not want to be targeted, they can stop colonizing Paiute and Shoshone land.

Judy Rojo

12717 Kumquat Ave

Chino, CA 91710

Other Council (incomplete)

Misty Morning Dawn Rojo-Alvarez

9845 3rd Ave, Hesperia, CA, 92345-3154

Shannon Evans

Merlene Magiera

Eric Magiera

Judy’s legal team (incomplete)

Norberto John Cisneros

1367 Panini Dr, Henderson, NV, 89052-3180

Treva Jean Hearne

8140 W 54th Pl, Arvada, CO, 80002-3514

Bob McNichols/REZBuilders

BobMcNichols@Rezbuilders.com

2175 Seneca Street, Kingman, AZ 86401

Bureau of Indian Affairs offices (incomplete/Nevada only)

311 E Washington St, Carson City, NV, 89701-4065

2719-4 Argent Ave, Elko, NV, 89801

Winnemucca Tribal Council office

595 Humboldt Street, Reno, NV, 89509-1603 (listed on BIA website)

433 West Plum Ln, Reno, NV, 89509 (listed on WIC website)

BIA Officer: Charles David Etheredge

6203 Forest Grove Dr, Fredericksberg, VA 22407-6378

Western Nevada Supply Company (for full list of addresses visit website)

950 South Rock Blvd, Sparks, NV 89431

5445 South Carson Street, Carson City, NV, 89701

1225 Water Street, Elko, NV, 89801

3245 West Potato Rd, Winnemucca, NV 89445

2141 James Ave, South Lake Tahoe, CA 96150

10990 Industrial Way, Truckee, CA, 96161

Michael White, WNSC Winnemucca branch manager

personal email: philomath101@gmail.com

WNSC email: mwhite@goblueteam.com

Arnold Machinery (incomplete, multiple locations)

4550 E Idaho St, Elko, NV 89801

-Received Anonymously Over Email

2021/2022 list of 1828 Atlanta Police Officers and Recruit names

Posted on July 27, 2022 by scenes

PODATA [list of names here]

copsofcopcity.noblogs.org has updated it’s list of officers and recruits to the most recent and comprehensive list of information. Send more information to copsofcopcity@riseup.net using our pgp key or the submission form found on our blog.

-Recieved Anonymously Over Email

Banner Drop In Minneapolis USA in solidarity with The Week Of Action To Defend The Weelaunee forest

Posted on July 27, 2022 by scenes

To begin the week of action to defend the Weelaunee forest, a banner was dropped over highway 94 in so-called Minneapolis on Monday July 25th. It remained in place for several hours, including the entire evening rush hour.

Stop Cop City! No Hollywood Dystopia!!

-Received Anonymously Over Email

FLOCK SECURITY VEHICLE WINDOWS SMASHED & SCARED OUT OF FOREST

Posted on July 25, 2022 by scenes

This afternoon a Flock Security Vehicle & worker outside the South Atlanta forest was spotted trying to replace one of the cameras they have habitually used to incriminate & incarcerate high volumes of people of color, activists,& struggling working class people.

Rocks were thrown at the van, effectively smashing their windows, & the Flock Security vehicle speedily drove away from the forest in a hurry!

NO Flock security cameras were allowed to be installed or replaced by Flock due to the efforts of forest defenders!

Defending the Forest often means taking risks, & aside from various forms of eco-defense, we will NOT risk allowing the cops to spin the narrative how they see fit, extrapolating & twisting the situation to try and justify their undue violence upon POC, general forest defenders & non-human animals & the LGBTQIA communities!

. *SMASH ALL THE ENEMIES’ WINDOWS WITH ROCKS*.

-Received Anonymously Over Email

Weelaunee People’s Park Opening And Ribbon Cutting Ceremony

Posted on July 23, 2022 - July 24, 2022 by scenes

Cops, at Milsap’s orders, attempted to close the park to the public. Today, forest defenders kicked off the @defendATLforest Week of Action by re-opening it as Weelaunee People’s Park, ribbon-cutting ceremony and all. https://t.co/Dy5vQHAlBN pic.twitter.com/0jWR5QyqA9

— Atlanta Community Press Collective (@atlanta_press) July 23, 2022

Climate activists chained themselves to the doors of a Charlotte office building Friday morning

Posted on July 23, 2022 - July 24, 2022 by scenes

Protesters on Friday left a poster that reads “Stop Cop City. Drop the Contract” on the doors of an office buliding in Charlotte Climate activists want construction company Brasfield & Gorrie to end its contract which Atlanta for a police training facility in a forest home to an indigenous tribe.
https://www.newsobserver.com/news/state/north-carolina/article263729833.html

-Received Anonymously Over Email

RC Field Barricaded

Posted on July 22, 2022 - July 22, 2022 by scenes

A Banner that reads "BECOME UNREMOTECONTROLLABLE" "FUCK BLACKHALL"
“BECOME UN-REMOTE-CONTROLLABLE, FUCK BLACKHALL” reads the banner in front of the new tire-and-brush barricade in front of the Remote Control Airfield at Intrenchment Creek Park, where police entered the forest twice this week after barricading the ICP parking lot shut last Friday. The cops gleefully stepped into their role as the hired henchmen of corporate elites, and “closed the park”—which is still legally a public park—at the behest of Blackhall Studios CEO Ryan Millsap, sworn enemy of all things good in this world. The cops put up private property signs which were swiftly taken down, and the cement barricades autonomously swung open.

The time has long passed to choose a side. You are either with the forest or against it. We know where the cops stand, we know where Blackhall Studios stands, and we will no longer let them into these woods without a battle.

OUR WOODS NOT HOLLYWOOD’S! NO HOLLYWOOD DYSTOPIA! FUCK RYAN MILLSAP! FUCK BLACKHALL STUDIOS! BECOME UN-REMOTE-CONTROLLABLE!!!

-Received Anonymously Over Email

North Gate Barricaded Shut to Protect Forest from Cops with Chainsaws

Posted on July 1, 2022 by scenes

Barricaded gate with sign that read "Give Up" This last week, barricades were erected to protect the South Atlanta Forest from police incursions with chainsaws.
The north gate was sealed off to the OPF (Old Prison Farm) on Key Rd. with an array of concrete, thick wood, broken glass, & cunning!
To make matters worse for the police, a lovely bucket of shit was chained to the gate as well!
In conjunction, a banner reading, “Give Up,” was aptly placed on the front of the Barricade to rightfully celebrate the WITHDRAWAL of subcontractor Reeves Young from the Cop City project, as well as what appears to be (but not yet confirmed!) Main contactor Brasfield & Gorie.
Barricades will continue to be constructed as long as the South Atlanta Forest is threatened by cops, & in any danger of clear- cutting & the likes to build Cop City.
If the cops keep trying to enter the forest on UTV’s with hopes of terrorizing forest defenders, abusing non-human animals, or killing trees with evil tools, they will be consistently met with treacherous roadblocks…
Consider this your warning, APD.

-Received Anonymously Over Email

Road blocked by protestors today near the Charlotte, NC offices of Brasfield & Gorrie

Posted on June 30, 2022 - July 1, 2022 by scenes

Road blocked by protestors today near the Charlotte, NC offices of #CopCity construction firm @BrasfieldGorrie. Residents of Charlotte call on B&G to drop the contract and stop Cop City! pic.twitter.com/4RZXY0DXSB

— Defend the Atlanta Forest (@defendATLforest) June 30, 2022

More Trees Spiked in the Welaunee Forest

Posted on June 29, 2022 - June 29, 2022 by scenes

Last night we randomly inoculated dozens of trees with steel and ceramic spikes to protect against felling by chainsaw. Signs were posted in English and Spanish to alert workers. This process is harmless to the trees, but poses a serious danger to machinery and workers should they choose to ignore the warnings. Cops have been seen in recent weeks entering the forest with chainsaws, ignoring the stop work order and cutting down trees in an unskilled and dangerous manner at the site of current and former treesits. They should stop.
Since we know the tree-sits ALONE that have been publicized may not prevent logging by themselves, we have taken it upon ourselves to go the extra mile…
“The earth is not dying, it is being killed, and those who are killing it have names and addresses.”–Utah Phillips
The draws of “society” & the “civilized” & ‘developed’ world cannot surpass the sounds of swallows in trees, humming of insects & bees, & the liberation of laying under the starry skies.

-Railroad Workers Union Local 1312

-Received Anonymously Over Email

JUNETEENTH TREESITS ERECTED TO BLOCK JUVENILE DETENTION CTR annexation & STOP COP CITY, ATL GA:

Posted on June 28, 2022 - June 28, 2022 by scenes

Over the last 2 weeks, actions both inside the forest & out have managed to stop construction& keep it at bay!
On Juneteenth (Jun. 19th), a very important day commemorating the freeing of slaves in the so-called U.S. from slavery, we erected a new treesit named Tower 7 in solidarity with youth prisoners currently being held in the juvenile detention center on Constitution Rd.
Gilligan’s Island is another new tree- sit that is connected to the infamously named & effective, “Haha Lol.Fuck You,” treesit (rightfully named because the kkkops destroyed the first platform, & cut part of a tree that was tied together in hopes of injuring forest defenders). Gilligan’s Island, Tower Seven, & many other trees have been connected together with ropes which has successfully deterred cops and workers from chainsawing down trees when they arrived in the forest with that intention. No more trees have been cut in this area since then! We plan to keep it that way & greatly appreciate your ongoing support! The flood of support pouring into the forest has meant a lot to those who are here defending the woods with our lives, both materially and emotionally as we get the sense of how many people are cheering us on. Much love and thank you all!
We believe all the tools for defending the forest & stopping cop city are important and that a diversity of tactics is most valuable!
Occupy the trees! Stop the Machines!
Defend the Forest with your heart!
Fight back against the oppressive arm of the law & police!

-Received Anonymously Over Email

Noise Demo Outside NYC Atlas Office

Posted on June 8, 2022 - June 8, 2022 by scenes

Noise Demo Outside NYC Atlas Office pic.twitter.com/oLj3hOyflV

— Scenes from the Atlanta Forest (@scenesatl) June 8, 2022

pic.twitter.com/CH8B52KleF

— Scenes from the Atlanta Forest (@scenesatl) June 8, 2022

– Received anonymously over email