The US Department of Homeland Security has contradicted law enforcement in Georgia over claims that activist groups opposed to the Cop City Police Training Center have been classified as domestic terrorists. On Wednesday, the agency said in a statement that it does not classify or label groups as domestic violent extremists. The statement came after arrest warrants were served on dozens of Cop City protesters with “Defend the Atlanta Forest” alleging they were members of a group “designated by the US Department of Homeland Security as domestically violent extremists.” And last week, three members of another group, the Atlanta Solidarity Fund, which had been raising money to save protesters, were arrested on similar warrants. On Wednesday, Georgia Senator Raphael Warnock, a Democrat, asked the Department of Homeland Security for clarification, writing, “Peaceful protest is a thoroughly American activity — and a fundamental constitutional right.”
