A suspected Antifa activist charged with domestic terrorism over riots in Atlanta is an attorney for the hard-left Southern Poverty Law Center.
Thomas Webb Jurgens, 28, is one of 23 people who were detained after violent clashes between police and protesters at the construction site for the Atlanta Public Safety Training Center. Others include serial protesters, a former school teacher and a young dancer who recently turned to activism.
Fireworks and Molotov cocktails were used to attack police and destroy construction equipment and machinery during the riots on Sunday. Activists have spent months staging demonstrations against the police facility which they dub ‘Cop City’.
Jurgens joined the SPLC in September 2021 and worked on its Economic Justice Project, according to his LinkedIn page. He has also worked as an assistant public defender and a legal intern at a US attorney’s office in Florida. The Florida Bar’s website lists him as a current SPLC lawyer.
The LinkedIn page includes a professional photo of Jurgens with neatly-styled hair and a suit and tie. The picture is a marked contrast to the mugshot released by police on Monday that shows him sullen-faced in a green sweater with long, unkempt hair and stubble.
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