Five people charged with domestic terrorism near 'Cop City' site, protestors condemn police tactics

DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. - A group of protestors opposing plans to construct an Atlanta Police Department training facility in southeast Atlanta accused police of using plastic bullets and pepper spray while arresting multiple protestors on Tuesday.

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The Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) said five people face domestic terrorism charges, accused Tuesday of throwing rocks and bottles at police cars and EMTs along Bouldercrest Road near the planned site for what critics call "Cop City" in DeKalb County.

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The GBI said it's part of a joint task force "formed to combat ongoing criminal activity" in the area.

Protestors near the "Cop City" site in southeast Atlanta. (Billy Heath/FOX 5 Atlanta)

"Task force members used various tactics to arrest individuals who were occupying makeshift tree houses," a spokesperson for the GBI said.

Marlon Kautz with the Atlanta Solidarity Fund said protestors were unarmed and not violent. The Atlanta Solidarity Fund provides legal support for people arrested during protests.

"We've seen over the past year or so, during the course of the protest movement against cop city, that the police have been engaging in a deliberate campaign to demonize the protest movement," Kautz said.

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Law enforcement near the "Cop City" site in southeast Atlanta. (Billy Heath/FOX 5 Atlanta / FOX 5 Atlanta)

Stop Cop City supporters claimed no one was threatening or endangering anyone while they set in "tree sits" conducting a non-violent protest.

"I think slapping them with domestic terrorism is also an attempt to warn other people who are organizing against this, other activists, to be careful and be scared in a way to try and silence our movement," Jasmine Burnett said.