[3] Critics of the training facility state that the center will increase militarization of police and that destruction of the forest will exacerbate economic disparities and ecological collapse in a poor-majority Black neighborhood.

[4] On January 18, 2023, Georgia State Patrol Officers shot and killed Manuel Esteban Paez Terán during a raid on the occupied encampment.

In 2020, as part of the Black Lives Matter movement and nationwide response to the murder of George Floyd, Atlanta witnessed a months-long series of protests against police brutality.

[3][5] The $90 million proposed training center would include a shooting range and a mock village that has led the project to be nicknamed "Cop City."

According to the APF, the project provides "the necessary facilities required to effectively train 21st-century law enforcement agencies responsible for public safety in a major urban city.

"[9] Cox Enterprises is a corporate investor in the training facility and owns the city's major daily newspaper, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution,[5] which has published multiple editorials in favor of the project.

They have also destroyed equipment being used by developers in the forest, vandalized property belonging to corporations connected with the APF and Blackhall studios, and committed arson.

[3] In May 2022 the corporate offices of Brasfield & Gorrie in Birmingham, Alabama were vandalized, and the message "Drop Cop City Or Else" was spray-painted on the building.

[18] There is wide variation in the political stance and approach of DTF forest defenders,[18] and several sources describe the movement as leaderless and autonomous, with any participant able to act as they wish.

[25][26][27][28] GBI conducted a forensic ballistic analysis which determined that the projectile recovered from the officer's wound matched the handgun found in Terán's possession.

At the intersection with Ellis St, some protesters damaged institutions who support the facility and burned an Atlanta Police Department vehicle.

Responding to condemnation of these acts, Stop Cop City issued a statement asserting that "Destruction of material is fundamentally different from violence.

Police subsequently raided the nearby South River Music Festival and detained 35 people, of which 12 were released and the remaining 23 were charged with domestic terrorism.

[38] Festival attendees have accused police of selectively charging protestors from out of state, while releasing Georgia residents, in order to further the narrative that "outside agitators" coordinated and controlled the protests.

[citation needed] The arrest warrant for the festival attendees stated that domestic terrorism charges were brought against those based on probable cause, such as having had mud on their feet, and that those with legal aid phone numbers written on their bodies were considered suspicious.

[43] Regarding the arrests, Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr pledged to “not rest until we have held accountable every person who has funded, organized, or participated in this violence and intimidation” regarding the protests.

[50] On March 6, 2023, it was reported that 23 people who had thrown large rocks, bricks, Molotov cocktails, and fireworks at police, as well having set buildings and equipment on fire, had been charged with domestic terrorism.

Legal scholars, protest groups, and state and local governments are interested in the precedents that this will set for handling similar cases in the future.

In 2023, Christopher M. Carr, the Georgia Attorney General, has defended domestic terrorism charges that have been brought against protestors allegedly breaking the law.