Protesters who scaled 250-foot crane of ‘Cop City’ contractor undeterred by felony charges

Cinematography by Lorin Dent and Lev Omelchenko
Edited by Wittika Chaplet

On March 27, two trans women scaled a 250-foot crane at a Brasfield & Gorrie construction site near Midtown to protest ‘Cop City’.

This is the fifth act of public civil disobedience against the contractor in which protestors have intentionally been arrested. This time, however, Atlanta Police charged the two protestors with felony false imprisonment—alleging that the women obstructed the crane operator’s ability to exit the crane.

At a press conference on March 29, Rev. Darci Jaret from Park Avenue Baptist Church called the felony false imprisonment charges “this carceral system trying to repress the tradition of civil disobedience.” Jaret added, “No operators of any machinery were compelled to stay. In fact, the people—who were doing this out of love—encouraged them to exit and showed them that it was not obstructed.”

One of the protesters, Parker, told ACPC that she is not deterred by the charges. “Cop City will never be built, y’all,” she said after her release from jail.