By Price Sukhia
On March 5, 2023, a forest outside of Atlanta erupted in chaos when an army of left-wing protesters marched on the construction site of a police training facility. Insurgents overran police, hurling rocks, Molotov cocktails, fireworks, and other projectiles. The ‘Stop Cop City’ riots in Atlanta led to mass arrests and more than 60 domestic terrorism and RICO charges against protesters and organizers.
For prosecutors and the public, the question then, and now, is who was really behind the violent riots?
A new investigation from Peter Schweizer’s Government Accountability Institute reveals that the protests were bankrolled by a shadowy network of left-wing billionaires and partisan nonprofits. Funding networks such as these have caught the eye of President Trump, who recently hinted at a possible federal investigation into far left megadonor, George Soros.
Agitation related to the construction of the Atlanta Public Safety Training Center (dubbed Cop City by opponents) had been going on for more than two years. Throughout that time, protesters occupied the South River Forest in Atlanta—torching construction equipment, endangering construction workers, and assaulting police.
When authorities launched a clearing operation on January 18, 2023, a protester was shot and killed after firing upon and wounding a state trooper, according to police. From that point on, violence from protesters escalated, leading to a destructive “Night of Rage” in downtown Atlanta a few days later and culminating in an all-out assault on the training center during the first week of March.
Video footage released by the Atlanta Police Department
shows hundreds of black clad protestors storming the
construction site of the Atlanta Public Safety Training
Center in the South River Forest on March 5, 2023.
Rioters torched construction vehicles, vandalized construction
equipment, and launched fireworks and other projectiles at retreating
police.
The organizers of the Stop Cop City protests were Network for Strong Communities Inc., Community Movement Builders, and the Climate Justice Alliance. These groups worked together on raising money, organizing demonstrations, coordinating bail funds, and providing supplies to protesters on the ground.
The emphasis on “grassroots” and “community” within the names of these groups makes it seem as though they represent an unprecedented groundswell of local activism from Atlanta residents.
Nothing could be further from the truth. Of the sixty-one belligerents arrested for violence during the campaign, forty-eight traveled to Georgia from other states to engage in the violence.
Moreover, a closer look at the finances for these groups shows that the Stop Cop City movement was highly organized and well-funded by left-wing dark money groups with strong political connections.
Financial disclosures from 2023 show politically connected left-wing philanthropic groups funneled millions of dollars to ‘Stop Cop City’ organizers.
NGO Leaders Charged Under RICO
One of the primary instigators of the Stop Cop City movement was Network for Strong Communities Inc. (NSC). NSC was created the year before the forest occupation began. Its leaders are currently under indictment on racketeering charges in relation to alleged funding for violence during the occupation.
Images from Google Maps show the headquarters of Network for
Strong Communities Inc. in Atlanta at 80 Mayson Avenue NE. Radical
symbols and anti-police messages are featured prominently on the
outside of the building including the anarchy symbol, “ACAB”
(All Cops Are Bastards), and “Make My Day Pig.”
State prosecutors claim the leaders of this group helped finance the occupation of the Atlanta forest while operating a bail fund only for far-left protesters. Officials highlighted one instance in which NSC doled out a $392,000 cash bond for a defendant charged with domestic terrorism. The group also supplied rioters with ammunition and a drone, according to prosecutors.
Network for Strong Communities’ revenue throughout the bulk of the Stop Cop City saga came directly from a handful of donations by progressive philanthropies and politically connected nonprofits.
No financial disclosures exist for NSC beyond 2022. However, outside filings reveal that 2023 donations surpassed the group’s revenue for either 2021 or 2022—funding that likely provided critical support for NSC’s activity that year.
The Tides network, a group heavily backed by George Soros’ Open Society and other progressive groups, controls multiple nonprofits that poured hundreds of thousands of dollars into the coffers of Stop Cop City organizers. Most of the money went directly to NSC.
Tides was not the only Soros-backed group to contribute to Network for Strong Communities. Borealis Philanthropy, a group that has received tens of millions of dollars from Soros nonprofits, donated $100,000 to the group according to 2023 financial disclosures.
Another prominent donor to NSC was Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors Inc. The organization is led by Valerie Rockefeller, the great-great-granddaughter of John D. Rockefeller, and Melissa Berman, the group’s longtime CEO. Under their leadership, the nonprofit donated $46,000 to NSC in 2023.
Valerie Rockefeller, Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors Inc. chair and heir of the Rockefeller Family, speaks at the ACC Year of the Dragon Gala at the Rainbow Room on May 14, 2024
Some of NSC’s donors also hold prominent political connections.
For instance, the charitable arm of Amalgamated Bank, the “left’s private bank” whose leadership includes two former Obama White House officials, donated more than a million dollars to Stop Cop City organizers throughout the demonstrations. Of that sum, tens of thousands of dollars went directly to NSC around the time violence against Atlanta police exploded.
Fair Fight Action Fund, a group founded by failed gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams, contributed $5,000 to NSC in 2023.
Abrams’s Stop Cop City support apparently runs in the family. Her sister, Jeanine Abrams, sits on the board of a nonprofit that promoted the Stop Cop City protests and provided links directly to NSC’s bail fund, even after the assault on the police training facility.
Justice Climate Fund
Several other nonprofits supporting Stop Cop City organizers are tied to the Justice Climate Fund, a group that was awarded nearly $1 billion in government funding from former president Joe Biden’s Environmental Protection Agency as part of his climate spending spree.
ImpactAssets, a JCF coalition member that played an important role in supporting the JCF’s application for the EPA grant, donated more than $13,000 directly to NSC, according to its 2023 financial disclosures. Freedom Together Foundation, a group that provided “critical support” to the Justice Climate Fund, donated $20,000 to NSC as well.
The Hip Hop Caucus, another Justice Climate Fund member created by the merger of Sean “P. Diddy” Combs’s Vote or Die organization and Jay-Z’s Voice Your Choice, was also a prominent supporter of the Stop Cop City movement.
On March 2, 2023, the Hip Hop Caucus called for activists to join in on a declared “Week of Action” by protest organizers. Heeding the call, a group of more than one hundred fifty masked militants marched on the police center and breached the construction site’s fences; shooting fireworks, throwing large bricks, and launching Molotov cocktails at police. In response, authorities arrested and charged 23 people with domestic terrorism.
Instead of disavowing the violence, the Hip Hop Caucus doubled down on its endorsement, calling for increased pressure on Georgia lawmakers and later directing activists to a website advocating for direct action on the ground. Last April, the group hosted a pro-Stop Cop City screening in Los Angeles for the LA Climate Week summit. The film, which praised the protests in Atlanta, was celebrated by the Hip Hop Caucus as “a powerful portrait of resistance.”
These findings echo a recent GAI report highlighting more than $100 million of dark money that flowed into the accounts of organizers behind the recent ‘No Kings’ protests.
