A group of protesters including Georgia State University students staged a Friday afternoon march to protest the Georgia International Law Enforcement Exchange.
The march began at 3 p.m. at Hurt Park near the GSU student center, proceeded to the intersection of Park Place and Auburn Avenue and then up the steps to the Andrew Young School of Policy Studies, which is where GILEE is housed.
Protesters appeared to create a wall with several banners as they walked up the steps. Police officers could then be seen pushing the banners back. At least one officer appeared to grab umbrellas from activists as they chanted.
The scuffle was short lived and protesters returned to marching around the downtown campus before dispersing about 3:30 p.m.
Credit: Arvin Temkar/AJC
Credit: Arvin Temkar/AJC
GILEE was founded in 1992, ahead of the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta. Robert Friedmann, a professor emeritus of criminal justice at GSU and founder of GILEE, previously told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that the 1972 Olympics in Munich, when 11 Israeli Olympians were killed by Palestinian terrorists, inspired the idea for the program. He then teamed Atlanta law enforcement with officials in Israel to share security knowledge prior to the 1996 games. More than 1,000 public safety officials, mostly from Georgia, have participated in the program in Israel.
Former U.N. Ambassador and Atlanta Mayor Andrew Young was instrumental in bringing the Olympics to Atlanta.
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