The National Guards have arrived in Atlanta as all major cities across the United States are expecting possible violence and rioting this weekend as video footage of 29-year-old Tyre Nichols being beaten by police in Memphis has been released.
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🚨#BREAKING: The National Guard has just arrived in Atlanta⁰⁰📌#Atlanta | #Georgia
The National Guard has just arrived in Atlanta as all major cities across the united states are bracing for possible violence and rioting this weekend as video Tyre Nichols was just released pic.twitter.com/NDOFcxG7i0
— R A W S A L E R T S (@rawsalerts) January 28, 2023
Nichols died in hospital three days after being pulled over for alleged reckless driving, and struggling with five officers who have since lost their jobs and been charged with his murder. The footage, captured on January 7, has been described by investigators and authorities as disturbing as it shows the brutal and questionable use of force by five Memphis police officers.
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On Thursday, Georgia Republican Governor Brian Kemp declared a state of emergency in anticipation of violent anti-police protests in Atlanta this weekend. The governor activated 1,000 National Guard troops and will deploy them to avoid further violence after masked protesters threw rocks, launched fireworks and burned a police vehicle in front of the Atlanta Police Foundation building last weekend.
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In anticipation of organized protests in downtown Atlanta, troops were sent down Baker Street Friday evening where several businesses shuttered their doors early. The area is close to Centennial Olympic Park and the World of Coca-Cola.
The Governor’s order made troops readily available to respond to “unlawful assemblage, overt threats of violence, disruption of the peace, and danger existing to persons and property.” It is set to run from February 9 until 11:59 pm.
However, the order has no mention of how a national case is playing out in the public around 400 miles away in Memphis, Kemp’s order does point to last weekend’s protest in downtown Atlanta that left a police car burned and several buildings damaged.
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Last week, the protesters gathered at Underground Atlanta to demonstrate against the law enforcement shooting death of Manuel Esteban Paez Teran, an individual known as Tortuguita who was among those living in long-term tree encampments in the South River Forest as a protest against a future Atlanta Police training center to be built there.
