Activists in Atlanta call for 'night of rage' after violent confrontation with police 

Activists in Atlanta are calling for a “night of rage” after a violent confrontation with police left one activist dead and a state trooper injured on Wednesday. 

Police were clearing out protesters at the site of a planned public safety training center, dubbed “Cop City” by activists, at around 9 a.m. on Wednesday when shots were fired, said Georgia Bureau of Investigation Director Mike Register. The shots hit the state trooper in the abdomen. 

“Law enforcement personnel returned fire in self-defense and evacuated the trooper to a safe area. The individual who fired upon law enforcement and shot the trooper was killed in an exchange of gunfire,” Register told reporters. 

The state trooper is undergoing surgery but is in stable condition, according to the commissioner of the Georgia Department of Public Safety, Chris Wright. The trooper’s name has not yet been released. 

Activists are now calling for a “night of rage” against the police and threatening to respond to authorities with “reciprocal violence.”

“Consider this a call for reciprocal violence to be done to the police and their allies,” one of the groups protesting at the site posted on Twitter. 

“On Friday, January 20th, wherever you are, you are invited to participate in a night of rage in order to honor the memory of our fallen comrade,” it added before the account was suspended for violating the platform’s rule.

Protesters oppose the Atlanta Police Foundation’s $90 million training center project because its construction would involve cutting down many trees and would therefore be environmentally damaging.