In a forest near Atlanta last March, hundreds of protesters gathered once again to try to stop the construction of a new police and fire training center. For Timothy Bilodeau, who had flown in from Boston, the fight that began in 2021 had gained new urgency after state troopers killed a protester in a shootout weeks earlier that also wounded an officer. On the day that Bilodeau, 26, headed in, there was another fiery confrontation. A crowd marched to the development site, where some protesters threw fireworks and Molotov cocktails, setting equipment ablaze. The police arrested nearly two dozen protesters, including Bilodeau. As Bilodeau saw it, he was taking a principled stand against the destruction of the forest. Prosecutors had a darker take: They charged Bilodeau and 22 others with domestic terrorism. In all, 42 people involved in the demonstrations against the training facility have been charged under Georgia’s domestic terrorism law, making it one of the largest cases of its kind on a charge that is rarely prosecuted, the New York Times reports.
As several states have added or expanded laws related to terrorism, or are considering doing so, the case in Georgia is at the center of debate about the need for these measures, the dangers they pose, and what constitutes terrorism. Georgia broadened its definition in 2017 to include attempts to seriously harm or kill people, or to disable or destroy “critical infrastructure,” intending to force a policy change. The charge carries a penalty of up to 35 years in prison. Officials in Georgia have argued that those charged were involved in sowing disorder and destruction — actions that demanded a swift and forceful response. Critics say that the charges in Georgia justify their worst fear about domestic terrorism laws: that they can frame activism as terrorism, and allow prosecutors to pursue even harsher punishments for “property crimes that were already illegal, simply because of accompanying political expression critical of government policy,” as the American Civil Liberties Union of Georgia says, The result, critics argue, is stifling free speech.