Above Photo: Stop Cop City Banners Dropped in Portland, Oregon. Tucson in the streets in solidarity with Stop Cop City. Stop Cop City Bike Parade in New Orleans, LA.
Over the past week, dozens of cities across the so-called US took part in the recent week of action in solidarity with Tortuguita and the ongoing struggle to stop Cop City and defend the Weelaunee Forest. This out-pouring of solidarity has been amazing to see, both from the wider autonomous movement and even mainstream environmental and Left groups.
Many towns organized small events, including nights of writing letters to those facing charges, benefit shows, and informational teach-ins and film showings on the struggle itself. Other cities organized mass marches and protests, bringing attention to the various corporations and banks that are currently funding the Cop City project and demanding that they drop their contracts.
If you’re looking for more background on the Cop City project, check out the recent deep dive from CrimethInc. here and here. There is also currently a call for a week of action in Atlanta, that kicks off on March 4th. Check out a full week of events planned here.
Now, let’s dive into our roundup of actions against Cop City!
Pacific Northwest
In Portland, Oregon, banners were dropped. A report from Scenes from the Atlanta Forest wrote:
During rush hour traffic Tuesday morning a couple of forest creatures took to an overpass and unfurled some banners to express our rage over Cop City and our sadness over the murder of Tortuguita. Many drivers stuck in the stop-and-go traffic took pictures of the banners and honked in solidarity. A passing cyclist stopped to talk to us about the banners. This is one of several actions forest creatures in so-called Portland, OR have organized for the week of solidarity.
The banners read: COPS KILLED AN ACTIVIST + LIED ABOUT IT STOP COP CITY & DEFEND FORESTS OR DIE STOP COP CITY!
On top of regular letter-writing events and benefits, in Olympia, WA people tabled with information about the Stop Cop City movement, graffiti and banners went up in Eugene, Oregon, and banners were dropped in Seattle, WA and Humboldt County in California.
Also in Humboldt County, a tree-sit in defense of old-growth forests also kicked off, in solidarity with the the fight to stop Cop City. A statement from a tree-sitter wrote:
As you’re reading this I am suspended above an entrance to one of Humboldt Redwood Company’s (HRC) industrial timber harvest plans, blocking this entrance by the support lines of the net that is holding me. Desperate times call for desperate measures, and these are desperate times indeed. On January 18th a forest defender named Tortuguita was murdered by state troopers while occupying the Weelaunee forest in Atlanta. They have since held activists with no bail or extremely high bail to prevent people from defending the forest. I am doing this to try and honor Tortuguita’s life and wish for the land to be protected, and in solidarity with activists in Atlanta facing extreme police repression.
Pacific
Across California, people organized letter-writing events, benefit shows, film-screenings, info-tables, as well as solidarity gatherings, such as in People’s Park in Berkeley, California.
In Sacramento and Santa Barbara banners were dropped. Stickers are graffiti also hit the walls in Sacramento, Chico, Red Bluff, and Los Angeles.
In Sonoma County, people also took action against a Bank of America branch, one of the funders of Cop City. According to a communique posted to Abolition Media:
Anarchist comrades laid bare the truth about Cop City on the walls, signs, and ATM of a Bank of America branch in Sonoma County, CA around February 17, 2023. We share in the collective horror over the murder of Manuel Tortuguita Teran. We decry Bank of America’s support for Cop City, a site dedicated to razing a forest to train more pigs as terrorists. Abolish the police. Tear down the prisons. Save and expand the forests. Smash capitalism. Smash the state.
Southwest
In Tempe, Arizona, people marched on an office for Atlas, one of the companies contracted to build Cop City.
In Tucson, Arizona, people also organized a bicycle parade in support of the Stop Cop City movement and graffiti slogans were also seen around town.
Central
In Denver, Colorado, various groups came together to hold a vigil for Tortuguita and in Lawrence, Kansas, people handed out flyers about the movement. There was also a protest at an Atlas office in Westminster, Colorado.
In Dallas, Texas, graffiti slogans were painted, banners were dropped in Houston and a solidarity protest was organized outside of Cop City investor, Invesco. Also in Austin, a rally was organized outside of an Atlas office.
Midwest
In Michigan, folks in Detroit organized a benefit show that raised close to $1.5K and a protest rally.
In Highland, Indiana, people rallied outside of an Atlas office, demanding that they drop the contact with Cop City.
In Illinois, people in Carbondale rallied outside of a Wells Fargo to demand divestment and also dropped banners, in Bloomington a ping-pong tournament was organized to raise funds, while Chicago saw banner drops and a mass march that protested outside of businesses involved in the funding of Cop City.
In Minneapolis, Minnesota, people organized a film-screening, placed up a banner at a local hockey game, and an Indigenous-led occupation took place, in solidarity with the struggle against Cop City.
Southeast
In Alabama, a rally and march on Brasfield and Gorrie, one of the companies contacted to build Cop City was organized.
In Virginia, people in Richmond held a bike ride in solidarity with the Stop Cop City movement and in Charlottesville, a benefit show was organized.
In Louisiana, folks in New Orleans also organized a pro-Stop Cop City bicycle parade and graffiti hit the walls.
In Tennessee, supporters held a small rally and passed out flyers in Murfreesboro.
In Georgia, people organized a day of mutual aid in honor of Tortuguita in Atlanta, mutual aid in memory of Tort. According to a communique posted to Scenes from the Atlanta Forest, three machines left in the Weelaunee forest were also put to the torch:
Yesterday, it came to Our attention that an area of Weelaunee Forest next to the river, near BlackHall Studios had been clear-cut. The machines they used were left on-site, so in the early morning we came and torched an excavator,bulldozer, and a front-end-loader.
At dawn this morning a sacred fire burned in their honor – We just wish more Georgia State Patrol vehicles could have joined the inferno.
In North Carolina, folks in Charlotte held a rally outside of Wells Fargo and Brasfield & Gorrie, demanding they cut ties to the Cop City project. Banners were also dropped.
In Missouri, graffiti slogans were written in Springfield.
In Florida, opponents of the Cop City project rallied in Miami outside of a Brasfied and Gorrie office.
Finally in Washington DC, people marched on the homes of two Georgia state senators, demanding they speak out against Cop City.
Northeast
In Pennsylvania, people in Philadelphia put up graffiti messages and held a mass march through the city center. Protests were also organized outside of the offices of Cop City’s major funders and a law firm supporting the project. A communique posted to Scenes from the Atlanta Forest also took credit for causing train delays on a mainline owned by Norfolk Southern, a Cop City investor and the company responsible for the recent chemical disaster in East Palestine.
In New York, folks in NYC dropped a banner and also held a noise demo outside of the Metropolitan Detention Center (MDC) in solidarity with the movement. A rally was also organized in support of the struggle.
In Massachusetts, folks in Woburn held a rally outside of Atlas, to demand the firm drop their name from the Cop City project.
In New Hampshire, movement supporters organized a rally against several funders of the project.
In Connecticut, people held a protest against Cop City in Stamford.
Finally, a communique posted to Scenes from the Atlanta Forest also reported on an action in East Hartford, CT:
Early in the morning on February 20th, the Atlas office in so-called East Hartford, CT was attacked with a vengeance. Messages of ‘Stop Cop City’ and ‘Defend Weelaunee’ and ‘Avenge Tort’ along with demands for Atlas to drop their contract were spraypainted in black on the office building’s walls, doors, and windows. Security boxes on both sides of the building were rendered inoperable with super glue and the doors to the building were bikelocked. The Atlas vehicle in the parking lot received the same treatment – vandalism and sabotage. Drop the contract or next time it will be worse. This action was to honor Tortuguita and is a commitment to never stop fighting, to never stop avenging them. It was quiet and easy; you could do it too. Atlas has offices everywhere so defenders must rise to the occasion everywhere.