SPLC attorney among 23 facing domestic terrorism charges after 'Cop City' protest

Kaelan Deese

March 06, 06:50 PM March 06, 06:51 PM

An attorney at the Southern Poverty Law Center, a civil rights group known for labeling conservative and Christian nonprofit organizations as "hate groups," was arrested Sunday on terrorism charges after allegedly taking part in a riot where agitators threw objects, including Molotov cocktails, at a police training center near Atlanta.

The Georgia Bureau of Investigation on Sunday arrested Thomas Webb Jurgens, according to Dekalb County Jail records. The name and occupation of the 28-year-old appear to match that of a staff attorney with the SPLC. He is facing one charge of domestic terrorism.

ATLANTA POLICE CHARGE 23 PEOPLE FOLLOWING ATTACK ON POLICE AND FIRE TRAINING CENTER

Jurgens was among 35 people detained after a violent clash between protesters and police at a construction site for the Atlanta Public Safety Training Center.

Authorities charged a total of 23 people with domestic terrorism following the riot and included a list of images with Jurgens included.

“On March 5, 2023, a group of violent agitators used the cover of a peaceful protest of the proposed Atlanta Public Safety Training Center to conduct a coordinated attack on construction equipment and police officers,” Atlanta police reported Sunday. “They changed into black clothing and entered the construction area and began to throw large rocks, bricks, Molotov cocktails, and fireworks at police officers.”

Fireworks and Molotov cocktails were used against police and to destroy construction equipment during the riot, comprising nearly 150 masked people in black and neutral tone attire. The police training facility was dubbed by activists who opposed the grounds as "Cop City."

Protesters opposed to the training grounds alleged the center would lead to greater militarized policing and damage the surrounding environment, CNN reported.

Jurgens has worked as a staff attorney at the SPLC since 2021 and graduated from the Georgia School of law in 2019, according to his LinkedIn profile, which has since been deleted. He also appears to be in good standing with the Florida Bar.

It is not immediately clear what involvement, if any, Jurgens had in the riot. A representative with the Florida Bar told the Washington Examiner they would look into Jurgens.

The clash between police and protesters follows vows by activist organizations to prevent construction of the training center, as a message on stopcop.city claims that it is being built on "stolen Muscogee land" and that "Copy City will never be built."

Police this year have conducted at least two "clearing operations" at the police facility site, including one in which officers killed 26-year-old protester Manuel Esteban Paez Teran, leading to heightened tensions with groups such as "Stop Cop City." Some arrested at a clearing operation last year were charged with domestic terrorism.

The SPLC has no known affiliation with black bloc protesters who wear dark attire and conceal their faces but condemned former President Donald Trump's 2020 calls to label such demonstrators as "antifa" and designate them as a "terrorist organization."

In 2012, a man armed with a semiautomatic pistol entered the headquarters of the Christian-based Family Research Council and shot and wounded a guard. He later told the FBI that he found the organization on the SPLC's "hate map" and wanted to kill everyone in the complex.

The man later pleaded guilty to committing an act of terror and was sentenced to 25 years in prison. While the SPLC condemned the attack, it never removed FRC's label as a "designated hate group."

The Washington Examiner contacted Jurgens and the SPLC for response.