A suspected Antifa activist charged with domestic terrorism over Atlanta riots is an attorney for the far-left Southern Poverty Law Center.
Thomas Webb Jurgens, 28, is one of 23 people arrested after violent clashes between police and protesters at the Atlanta Public Safety Training Center construction site.
Firecrackers and Molotov cocktails were used in Sunday’s riots to attack police and destroy construction equipment and machinery. Activists have spent months staging demonstrations against the police facility they call Cop City.
Jurgens joined the SPLC in September 2021 and worked on its Economic Justice Project, according to his LinkedIn page. He has also worked as an assistant public defender and legal trainee at a US law firm in Florida.
The LinkedIn page has a professional photo of Jurgens with his hair neatly styled and wearing a suit and tie. The image stands in stark contrast to the mugshot released by police on Monday, which shows him grumpy-faced in a green sweater with long, unkempt hair and stubble.
The 23 Antifa “terrorists” arrested after violent clashes at the construction site for a police training facility in Atlanta dubbed “Cop City.” Thomas Webb Jurgens (bottom row, second from left) is an attorney with the Southern Poverty Law Center
Dave Wilkinson, President and CEO of the Atlanta Police Foundation, surveys damage to the site of the proposed Atlanta Public Safety Training Center after vandalism by protesters in Atlanta, Georgia, the United States, March 6, 2023
The aftermath of the March 6 “Cop City” protests. 23 people were charged with domestic terrorism
His social media profile also details an impressive academic career that included a semester at the prestigious University of Oxford in England and a Juris Doctor from the University of Georgia School of Law.
The Southern Poverty Law Center is a social justice organization that describes its goals as “dismantling white supremacy, strengthening intersectional movements, and promoting the human rights of all people.” Republican activists claim the SPLC is a “radical” leftist and “anti-Christian” organization.
Jürgens and 22 other activists from France and Canada have now been charged with domestic terrorism after the riots at the police training center.
The 23 “Antifa terrorists” have indicted in Atlanta
- Jack Beaman, 22, from Georgia
- Ayla King, 18, from Massachusetts
- Kamryn Pipes, 27, from Louisiana
- Maggie Gates, 25, from Indiana
- Honor Nottingham, 22, from Colorado
- Alexis Paplai, 48, from Massachusetts
- Timothy Bilodeau, 25, of Massachusetts
- Victor Puertas, 46, of Utah
- Dimitri LeNy, 25, from France
- Amin Chaoui, 31, from Virginia
- James Marsicano, 29, from North Carolina
- Samuel Ward, 26, from Arizona
- Max Biederman, 25, from Arizona
- Mattia Luini, 30, from New York
- Emma Bogush, 24, from Connecticut
- Kayley Meissner, 19, of Wisconsin
- Luke Harper, 27, of Florida
- Grace Martin, 22, from Wisconsin
- Colin Dorsey, 42, of Maine
- Fredrique Robert-Paul, 34, from Canada
- Zoe Larmey, 25, from Tennessee
- Thomas Juergens, 28, from Georgia
- Priscilla Grim, 49, from New York
The Atlanta Police Department released details of the suspects on Monday. The individuals are mostly men and women from outside Georgia, indicating a concerted effort to enlist outside help for the operation.
A statement from the Atlanta PD said: “On March 5, 2023, a group of violent agitators used the guise of a peaceful protest at the proposed Atlanta Public Safety Training Center to stage a coordinated attack on construction equipment and police officers.
“They changed into black clothes and entered the construction area and started throwing big rocks, bricks, Molotov cocktails and firecrackers at police officers.
“The agitators destroyed several construction machines by fire and vandalism. Several law enforcement agencies were dispatched to the area and arrested several individuals who had engaged in illegal activities.’
Police said 35 “agitators” had been arrested. It was not immediately clear if the remaining 12 would also face charges.
Police added: “The unlawful actions of the agitators could have resulted in bodily harm. Officers exercised restraint and used non-lethal coercion to make arrests.
“With protests planned for the coming days, the Atlanta Police Department, in conjunction with law enforcement partners, has a multi-pronged strategy that includes response and arrest.
“The Atlanta Police Department is asking that this week’s protests remain peaceful.”
Atlanta Police Foundation President and CEO Dave Wilkinson visited the scene Monday to assess the damage.
Dramatic footage released Sunday night by the Atlanta Police Department showed nearly 150 masked rioters bursting into the construction site and leveling fireworks at police.
Some of the group could later be seen gathering protective shields. Once together, they began throwing Molotov cocktails at a construction vehicle and ran away when it was on fire. Other videos posted online showed a police surveillance tower on fire, sending smoke billowing into the sky.
The dramatic confrontation between police and protesters comes as individuals and activist organizations descend on the proposed site for a “week of action” to protest its development.
“This is the first week of action since the state killed someone,” Marlon Kautz, an organizer with the Atlanta Solidarity Fund, told The Guardian, referring to the police killing of Manuel Paez Teran in January.
The burned-out shell of a construction vehicle after the violent riots in Atlanta’s “Cop City”
Demonstrators have set up camp in forests surrounding the site and regularly make efforts to stop the project
A picture of the aftermath of violent clashes between rioters and police on Sunday March 6th
Dave Wilkinson, President and CEO of the Atlanta Police Foundation, assesses the damage
A private autopsy revealed he was shot 13 times.
Authorities have claimed Teran – who identified himself as non-binary – opened fire on a Georgia State Patrol soldier during a “clean-up” of the so-called autonomous zone at the site of the $90 million project.
Protesters who have formed a group called “Stop Cop City” say the 381-acre Weelaunee Forest is “stolen Muscogee land” and that creating it would mean destroying wildlife and forestry.
They have become increasingly violent since they first invaded the forest last spring. Since December, 19 people have been arrested for domestic terrorism. Stop Cop City activists also say the city of Atlanta has “leased” the land — which the mayor’s office disputes, saying the city in unincorporated DeKalb County owns it.