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Hundreds of demonstrators poured into the streets near Atlanta’s Centennial Olympic Park on Friday night, smashing windows and clashing with police officers in a protest that grew so tense that the city’s mayor forcefully told people to go home.
Not far from the park, the city’s iconic tourist destination, some people climbed atop a large red CNN sign outside the media company’s headquarters and spray-painted messages on it. Some people jumped on police cars. Others threw rocks at the glass doors of the Omni Hotel, eventually breaking the glass, and shattered windows at the College Football Hall of Fame, where people rushed in and emerged with branded fan gear.
“It’s enough,” Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms said in an evening news conference. “We are all angry. This hurts. This hurts everybody in this room. But what are you changing by tearing up a city? You’ve lost all credibility now. This is not how we change America. This is not how we change the world.”
Demonstrations unfolded in cities across the United States after a video emerged this week of a white Minneapolis police officer using his knee to pin down George Floyd, a black man who died in the incident. Floyd’s death set off nights of unrest in Minneapolis, as well as cities like New York, Houston, and Washington. Some of the protests were peaceful while others turned destructive.
In Atlanta, Jay Clay, a graphic designer, watched the protests with a mixture of curiosity and solidarity.
“After all this injustice and prejudice, people get fed up,” Mr Clay said. “I wanted to come down and check it out. But this feels like it’s getting out of hand.”
At CNN headquarters, protesters smashed the lobby windows and seemed prepared to go inside during a tense face-off that was broadcast live on the cable network. A line of officers in riot gear blocked the way. At one point, protesters appeared to hurl a firework that set off a loud bang.
Near the College Football Hall of Fame, three cars were on fire, burning down to charred husks. A crowd gathered around an Atlanta police lieutenant. A large Swat vehicle was behind him, as was a phalanx of police, their faces hidden behind gas masks.
The lieutenant tried to reason with the crowd. “Your anger is justified. Your outrage is justified,” he told them. He tried to explain that the police needed to protect property and keep the city from burning.
Cici Benjamin held a sign with a defiant insult directed towards the police. Ms Benjamin, who is black, said she was from a small Caribbean island. Ms Benjamin cried as she spoke of her brother and how she thought he could never live in this country given the danger.
