This photo provided by the Atlanta Police Department shows burning construction equipment Saturday, March 4, 2023, after it was set on fire by a group protesting the creation of a public safety training center, according to police. (Atlanta Police Department via AP)

ATLANTA (AP) — More than 20 people from across the United States were facing homeland terrorism charges Monday after dozens of masked youths attacked the site of a police training center under construction in a wooded area outside of Atlanta, a location where a protester was killed in January.

The area has become the epicenter of an ongoing conflict between authorities and left-wing protesters.

During a protest on Sunday, demonstrators threw flaming bottles and stones at police officers in the “Ciudad de la Policía”, where Manuel Esteban Paez Terán – nicknamed “Tortuguita”, a 26-year-old environmental activist – died after being shot by the police. officers during a raid on a protest camp in January. Police said the individual attacked them, a claim other activists disputed.

Almost all of those arrested are from various parts of the United States, while one is from France and another from Canada, police said.

Like many protesters, Paez Terán was dedicated to environmental protection, according to family and friends, ideals at odds with Atlanta’s hopes to build a $90 million public safety training facility, intended to improve police preparedness and morale. following the violent protests that rocked the country following the death of African American George Floyd in 2020.

Now authorities and young people are locked in a confrontation that seems to have little to do with other high-profile conflicts.

Protesters against what critics call “Police City” range from more traditional environmentalists to self-described young anarchists who want to tackle what they see as an unjust society.

Following the death of Little Turtle, protests spread to downtown Atlanta on January 21, when a police vehicle was set on fire and rocks and firecrackers were thrown at a skyscraper housing the Foundation of the Atlanta police. There were broken windows. The governor declared a state of emergency.

Atlanta Police Chief Darin Schierbaum said at a midnight news conference on Sunday that construction equipment was burned in what he called a “coordinated attack” on the site of the Atlanta Public Safety Training Center in DeKalb County.

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Martin reported from Woodstock, Georgia.

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