Atlanta riots erupt downtown amid ‘Cop City’ backlash

Rioters in Atlanta set off fireworks and threw rocks at the Atlanta Police Foundation Saturday evening, according FOX 5 Atlanta.

The incident comes after an activist, Manuel Esteban Paez Teran, 26, was killed by police after allegedly refusing demands by authorities on Wednesday and allegedly fired a gun at state troopers at the Atlanta Public Safety Training Center. 

“An individual, without warning, shot a Georgia State Patrol trooper,” Georgia Bureau of Investigations Michael Register told reporters earlier this week. “Other 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 the exchange of gunfire.”

Teran was an activist working against the development of the City of Atlanta’s Public Safety Training Center, and his fellow activists vowed to protest against the facility and police after his death.

 The protest began peacefully on Saturday before spiraling into chaos, according to FOX 5. 

ATLANTA: PROTESTERS CALL FOR ‘VIOLENCE’ AGAINST POLICE AFTER SHOOTING LEAVES 1 DEAD, OFFICER INJURED

Photos show the activists allegedly lit an Atlanta PD vehicle on fire in addition to targeting the Atlanta Police Foundation building. 

Activists had been camped out on an 85-acre planned facility known as “Cop City” in recent days to protest the planned training center. When Teran was shot and killed after authorities tried to remove the protesters from the plot of land on Wednesday, they vowed to continue their protests. 

GEORGIA STATE TROOPER SHOT BY PROTESTER AT ‘COP CITY’ NEAR ATLANTA

The Twitter account Scenes from the Atlanta Forest called for a “Night of Rage” to enact “reciprocal violence to be done to the police and their allies,” according to a post.

“Consider this a call for reciprocal violence to be done to the police and their allies. 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,” the group wrote on Twitter, in an apparent violation of the platform’s terms and conditions.

ATLANTA TEENS DEAD AFTER SOCIAL MEDIA ARGUMENT LEADS TO SHOOTOUT: POLICE

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This is a breaking news story and will be updated.