Protesters clash in Stone Mountain

[PVBoom]

https://www.ajc.com/news/protesters-clash-in-stone-mountain/3ZXGYQQJWFB6VAMZSZR74B4DXE/

8/15/20 - Stone Mountain, GA - A heavy police presence is on hand as several far-right groups, including militias and white supremacists, were planning to rally Saturday at Stone Mountain, and a broad coalition of leftist anti-racist groups are organizing a counter-demonstration. Local authorities, who have been closely monitoring online chatter about the rally, are bracing for possible conflict. Alyssa Pointer / alyssa.pointer@ajc.com

The protest drew dozens of heavily armed private militia from around the state, neighboring states, and as far away as Arkansas. They were motivated by the taunting of the leader of an all-black militia who marched on Stone Mountain Park July 4, but they also expressed their rage over the removal of Confederate monuments, shared conspiracy theories, and voiced their support of President Donald Trump.

The militia-backed protesters were met by hundreds of counter demonstrators eager to shout them down. That group included mainline civil rights organizations like the NAACP but also far-left anarchists and socialists, some of whom arrived with assault weapons and were as heavily armed as the militia.

Credit: Jenni Girtman

Though largely free of serious violence, the protest is the latest in a series of clashes since 2016 where armed groups have used Stone Mountain as a backdrop.



There were no arrests, police said.

Credit: Jenni Girtman

One militia organizer, Arkansas-based Confederate States III%, had intended to protest inside the park, but the Stone Mountain Memorial Association denied their permit, as did the city. When the group continued with plans to demonstrate there anyway, the park announced Friday it would close its gates for the day. Groups of militia scrambled in the hours after the announcement to come up with a new plan, while counter demonstrators urged their people to stick with their plan to convene in the city.
Speeches from local NAACP
About 200 people in the coalition of counter demonstrators began Saturday morning at the gazebo outside the Stone Mountain Welcome Center on Main Street, listening as speakers urged the crowd to do what they could to address voting issues, lending practices and forced evictions. Others urged obliterating the Confederate monument at Stone Mountain.




Militia outnumbered
As the counter demonstrators talked, Chris Hill, a militia leader from McDonough, and nine of his Georgia Security Force III%, took up a position behind a barricade about 100 yards away.
From his position behind the barricade, Hill began talked into his cell phone where he was recording video.






Credit: Jenni Girtman

[PVBoom]

CONTINUED

Crowd swells before police move in
Police left the groups of demonstrators largely alone for more than four hours, and over the course of the morning discipline within the two opposing groups broke down and led to chaotic scenes of small groups shouting or shoving one another.
Tracy Baisden, a Black woman from Atlanta, engaged in a long discussion with a white man, who only identified himself as Zach, as the man declared his desire that races remain separate. Like many such face-to-face encounters, little was settled.

Credit: Jenni Girtman

Militia members sprayed several counterprotesters with insect repellent or pepper spray, and several individuals on both sides were knocked to the ground. A counterprotester ripped the face mask from an Associated Press photographer as the he was attempting document the scene.

Credit: Alyssa Pointer

The sides recorded video of one another, and the entire scene was heavily documented by news photographers, journalists and several documentary filmmakers. Many participants on either side also live streamed the protest on their phones.
By midday, the crowd had swelled to a combined total of more than 500, many of whom mingled in a chaotic scrum outside the Stone Mountain Methodist Church.

Credit: Jenni Girtman

Credit: Alyssa Pointer

Around 1 p.m., following an uptick in fighting between the groups, police marched through downtown with riot shields and dispersed the crowd. Behind the police, a unit of the National Guard waited in case they were needed, but the vast majority of protesters left peacefully. By 2 p.m., downtown Stone Mountain was quiet.
Stone Mountain police Chief Chancey Troutman said he told the groups they had three minutes to disperse.

[PVBoom]

If you go to the link in the 1st article, there are a ton more pics on the top you can scroll through.