What started as a peaceful protest to bring attention to police brutality turned violent in Atlanta.
On Friday, May 29, 2020, hundreds of protestors marched through downtown Atlanta to help shed light on the death of George Floyd, a Black man who died four days earlier in Minneapolis, Minnesota, after a White police officer, Derek Chauvin, knelt on his neck for more than nine minutes.
In Atlanta, there were multiple speeches and people who held signs that promoted unity and a call for action against police brutality at the afternoon rally. However, as the sun began to set, several agitators began to vandalize buildings and set cars on fire. Windows at the CNN Center were broken and some threw objects at members of the Atlanta Police Department.
After the violent protests, Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms blasted those who were focused on disruption.
“This is not Atlanta,” Bottoms said during a press conference. “This is not a protest. This is not in the spirit of Martin Luther King Jr. This is chaos. A protest has a purpose. When Dr. King was assassinated we didn’t do this to our city. So, if you love this city, this city that has had a legacy of Black mayors and Black police chiefs and people who care about this city where more than 50 percent of the business owners in metro Atlanta are minority business owners, if you care about this city, then go home.
“We are better than this. We are better than this as a city. We are better than this as a country,” Bottoms continued. “You’re throwing knives at our police officers. You are burning cars. You have defaced the CNN building.”
Bottoms ended by saying that violent protests are damaging any progress that was attempted.
“You are disgracing this city,” she said. “You are disgracing the life of George Floyd and every other person who has been killed in this country. We are better than this. We are better than this as a city, and we are better than this as a country. This is not the legacy of civil rights in America. This is chaos, and we’re buying into it. This won’t change anything.”
