A decentralised movement of environmental and social justice activists in Atlanta is trying to stop the construction of “Cop City”, a $90m police training complex in one of the city’s last remaining forests.
But authorities in Georgia are calling the movement an extremist organisation and have launched an unprecedented crackdown.
Dozens of protesters are now facing decades in prison for racketeering and domestic terrorism charges.
Civil rights experts warn that successful convictions would give police and prosecutors a new playbook that criminalises political association and treats property destruction as terrorism.