Protestor Elle Lucier arrested during Atlantic Station die-in

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• Rodney Carmichael??
• Mary Hooks of Southerners on New Ground stands with a coalition of #ShutItDownATL protestors outside the Fulton County Jail last Saturday night after Elle Lucier’s arrest.?

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A #ShutItDownATL protest planned by local organizers for Atlantic Station got prematurely shut down last weekend when one of its most vocal proponents was arrested by City of Atlanta police. ?

Elle Lucier and several others had just gotten into prone positions Saturday evening on the synthetic grass in the central park of the outdoor shopping center to stage a die-in. ?

That’s when Atlantic Station’s security director approached, flanked by two APD officers, an Instagram video of the protest shows. “Atlantic Station is private property,” he says to Lucier. “I’m asking you to please leave our property. This is your only and final warning.”?

Officers then pull Lucier to her feet before handcuffing her. As they walk her from the scene, she joins in on a call-and-response chant — “It is our duty to fight for our freedom!” — while wearing a white-on-black sweatshirt that reads “Demilitarize the Police.”????

“As part of her protest, Ms. Lucier had a sign that read, ‘No More Business As Usual,’” Atlantic Station spokesman Tony Wilbert told CL in a statement. “Upon the lawful arrest of their fellow protestor, the other three in her group agreed to leave. Another different group later approached the security officer and filmed him as he asked them to leave for violating the property’s code of conduct.”????

Lucier was later charged with criminal trespassing, according to Wilbert, who maintained the outside mall’s designation as private property. “Our long-established policy prohibits protest of any kind, regardless of the topic or cause,” he stated. “As such, we will not allow organized protestors to congregate or march on our property.” ?

The Saturday evening action was one of several #ShutItDownATL protests led by the local coalition over the past week in response to a Ferguson grand jury’s decision against indicting Michael Brown’s killer and former Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson. In addition to rallying more than nearly 3,000 people at Underground Atlanta the night after the grand jury verdict, coalition leaders protested outside Walmart on Black Friday to raise the minimum wage to $15 and attempted a die-in protest earlier Saturday at Lenox Square Mall, which was also quickly defused by mall authorities, according to Southerners on New Ground organizer Mary Hooks.?

At Atlantic Station, supporters passed out leaflets charging state-sanctioned genocide and gentrification. “We are shutting down this space in order to interrupt business as usual, the business that makes money for the 1 percent at the expense of black bodies,” the flier reads.?

Days earlier, Lucier, the 19-year-old organizer and spokesperson for the Atlanta-based coalition ItsBiggerThanYou, had received indirect thanks from Mayor Kasim Reed for leading peaceful protests during a night that saw some splinter groups cause minor property damage around Downtown. After Lucier’s arrest Saturday night, fellow protestors took to the Fulton County Jail at 901 Rice Street, where, they’d been told, she would be booked. ?

A couple dozen protestors kept their spirits high in the cold by turning empty plastic pails into drums as they sang, chanted and stood vigil. Among the signs crafted in advance of the protest, such as a huge wide banner that read “#BLACKLIVESMATTER,” someone held up a piece of pink cardboard that read “Free Elle” in handwritten block letters. After rallying for close to three hours, the faithful received word from Atlanta police that Lucier would not be transported to the Fulton County Jail.?

“We don’t know where our sister Elle is,” Malcolm X Grassroots Movement organizer Taliba Obuya spoke into a bullhorn. “We’re demanding the city release her tonight or we will show back up to Atlantic Station Sunday and shut it down.” ?

Others onsite recounted Lucier’s arrest, noting how police seemed to target her for removal.?

“When there’s a movement going on, they try to single out the person they feel is leading the masses of the people. So them doing it is not necessarily surprising,” said Shawn DeAngelo Walton, an organizer and recent Morehouse College grad. “Thankfully, this is not a lateral movement, it’s a horizontal movement. So if they take one we’re going to be there to get them out. But we have other people to step in and it’s going to continue. Just like we’re out here tonight organized, we’re going to continue to be organized. No matter how many of us they take.”?

For the next several hours, Lucier received an outpouring of support and #FreeElle love via social media.????
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By early Sunday morning, she was back on Twitter, confirming her release and putting her arrest in perspective. ????

Additional reporting by CL news editor Thomas Wheatley.??
EDITOR’S NOTE: To view our complete coverage on local protests and responses to police brutality, visit the #ShutitdownATL page.
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