Weekend protest in Atlanta turned violent

Protesters in downtown Atlanta on Saturday threw rocks and lit fireworks in front of the skyscraper that houses the Atlanta Police Foundation. The small group then lit a parked police cruiser on fire and vandalized walls with anti-police graffiti. Six people were arrested in connection with the violence and have been charged with domestic terrorism, first-degree arson, and multiple misdemeanor charges. Five of the six people arrested are not from Georgia.

Why was the protest held? The demonstration was planned to mourn the death of a 26-year-old man shot and killed by law enforcement Wednesday after officials said he shot and wounded a state trooper. Manuel Esteban Paez Teran was part of a small group of people who were protesting the construction of the Atlanta Public Safety Training Center in a forested area just outside city limits. Atlanta police on Wednesday had been removing the protesters from campsites on that property when Teran was killed.

Dig deeper: Read Addie Offereins’ report in Compassion about how voters in November viewed crime and public safety.