The US federal government is prosecuting protesters against the ‘Cop City’ police training centre near Atlanta under its drive to label ‘antifa’ as terrorists, despite state cases failing. On Monday, a Georgia judge dismissed a state indictment against three activists for the second time, citing due process violations. However, the Department of Justice indicted two of them earlier this month under a Trump initiative targeting anti-fascism.
The cases stem from a May 2022 protest outside Brassfield & Gorrie, the construction company building the training centre. About 50 demonstrators gathered, with some allegedly setting off fireworks and damaging property. The state attorney general included three people in a RICO indictment in August 2023, which was dismissed in December. A second state attempt in Cobb County was dismissed on Monday, with Judge Robert E Flournoy ruling that the delay violated constitutional rights.
Despite the state failures, the DOJ indicted Katie Marie Kloth and Tyler John Norman this month under National Security Presidential Memorandum 7, issued by Donald Trump in September. The memorandum targets ‘violent and terroristic activities under the umbrella of self-described anti-fascism’. Trump also issued an executive order labelling ‘antifa’ a domestic terrorist organisation. The federal indictment refers to ‘explosives’ and ‘fire’ from the fireworks, and ‘riot and civil disorder’.
Critics argue the government is manufacturing a threat. Attorney Xavier de Janon, who represented defendant Dr Hannah Kass, said: ‘It’s the federal government creating a boogeyman and then finding incidents to match.’ He compared the case to the Prairieland trial in Texas, where protesters against ICE received long sentences for terrorism-related charges. Author Will Potter noted the language shift: ‘Fireworks become explosives. Communities become antifa cells.’
At the Cobb County hearing, Judge Flournoy highlighted the rhetoric when a prosecutor described protesters in black clothes and masks. The judge interjected: ‘Oh, that sounds like ICE.’ Arun Kundnani, an author on political violence, said such labelling dates back to the 1970s against the Black Panthers and was later used against Muslims post-9/11. ‘If you want to criminalise protesters, you link them to a terrorist group,’ he said.
