In a fiery statement on camera, Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms urged rioters in the city to stop destroying the city and go home. Bottoms’ speech comes after protests and riots that started in Minneapolis in response to the police killing of George Floyd have spread across the country.
Atlanta is one city that is still mourning the killing of Ahmaud Arbery who was shot by white vigilantes in February. The father and son suspects, George and Travis McMichael were not arrested and charged until two months after the incident.
The Atlanta protests started in the name of the recent shooting victims, George Floyd in Minneapolis, Ahmaud Arbery in Atlanta and Breonna Taylor in Louisville. The protests in Atlanta later turned violent to the mayor’s disgust.
“You’re not protesting anything running out with brown liquor in your hands, breaking windows in this city,” Bottoms said in a press conference. “You are disgracing our city. You are disgracing the life of George Floyd and every other person who has been killed in this country.”
Atlanta rapper’s T.I. and Killer Mike were present at the press conference issuing the same sentiments as the mayor. Bottoms invoked the two business owners in her speech.
“T.I. and Killer Mike own half the West Side. So when you burn down this city you’re burning down our community.”
Rioters in Atlanta specifically targeted the CNN offices as was captured by the news network who captured live video of the citizens attacking police inside the building with projectiles.