[SPLC] Attorney Among 23 Charged With Domestic Terrorism In Atlanta ‘Cop City’ Attack

Original Article By Emily Crane At NYPost.com:

An attorney with the Southern Poverty Law Center is among the 23 protesters who have been charged with domestic terrorism after they allegedly hurled Molotov cocktails and fireworks at a future Atlanta police training facility, cops said Monday.

Thomas Webb Jurgens, 28, was one of the nearly two dozen people detained on Sunday in what police have described as a “coordinated attack” on the under-construction Atlanta Public Safety Training Center — dubbed “Cop City.”

Jurgens is a staff attorney with the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), the left-leaning anti-hate group, according to the State Bar of Georgia and his since-deleted LinkedIn page.

Of the 23 people slapped with domestic terrorism charges over the violent protest, only Jurgens and one other man, Jack Beaman, hail from the state of Georgia.

Police said the majority of those arrested are from other parts of the US — as well as France and Canada.

A handful of protesters could be seen smirking in their mugshots released by authorities Monday afternoon.

The SPLC didn’t immediately respond to The Post’s request for comment in the wake of Jurgens’ arrest.

In total, 35 “violent agitators” were nabbed after they attacked the future site of the $90 million police training facility, cops said.

It wasn’t immediately clear if the remainder of those arrested will also be hit with domestic terrorism charges.

The ordeal unfolded when the protesters started throwing Molotov cocktails, fireworks, rocks and bricks at officers during the demonstration.

Atlanta Police Chief Darin Schierbaum described the flare-up as “coordinated” and said multiple pieces of construction equipment were set on fire at the 85-acre site outside the city.

Surveillance video captured towering plumes of smoke and flames rising from the site after the heavy equipment was set alight, as well as officers appearing to duck for cover as items were hurled in their direction.

The Georgia Department of Public Safety said some protesters also tried to blind officers by shining green lasers into their eyes.

A handful of the 23 protesters charged with domestic terrorism could be seen smirking in their mugshots. DeKalb County Sheriff’s Office

“This was a very violent attack, very violent attack,” Schierbaum said at a midnight press conference.

“This wasn’t about a public safety training center. This was about anarchy … and we are addressing that quickly.”

Multiple law enforcement agencies from neighboring areas were called in to help quell the violence, Schierbaum added.

He said the officers used non-lethal enforcement to carry out the arrests.

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp issued a statement condemning the violence, saying those involved “chose destruction and vandalism over legitimate protest.”

“As I’ve said before, domestic terrorism will NOT be tolerated in this state,” Kemp said. “We will not rest until those who use violence and intimidation for an extremist end are brought to full justice.”

The site of the training facility has seen clashes between police and left-leaning protesters ever since it was approved by the Atlanta City Council in 2021.

It is the same site where 26-year-old environmental activist Manuel Esteban Paez Terán was shot to death by cops during a raid at a protest camp in January.