LUIS CARLOS VÉLEZ: And one last word. It is extremely surprising that the violent protest against a police training center in Atlanta is not at the center of the national discussion today. It is surprising because given the consequences that this kind of event recently had in other parts of the world, one would expect that alarm bells would go off throughout the country.
This is how law enforcement describes the events:
DARIN SCHIERBAUM, ATLANTA POLICE CHIEF: During that attack on the officers, pieces of equipment and other articles left on location for the construction of the Public Safety Training Center were damaged, so we will continue to assess that.
VÉLEZ: It was a coordinated attack, executed to perfection. A violent action with the aim of doing as much damage as possible.
SCHIERBAUM: When you throw commercial-grade fireworks, when you throw Molotov cocktails, large rocks, a number of items at officers, your only intent is to harm.
VÉLEZ: In total, 35 people were arrested and 23 now face domestic terrorism charges. An act of anarchy.
SCHIERBAUM: This was a very violent attack that occurred this evening, very violent attack. And this wasn't about the Public Safety Training Center. This was about anarchy, and this was about an attempt to destabilize.
VÉLEZ:: For those who recall the revolts of recent years in Latin America -misnamed “social uprisings”- this is simply and dangerously similar. In those countries, those attacks disguised as protests ended up as political movements that promoted constitutional changes. At the time the State Department, in the cases of Chile, Bolivia and Colombia, warned of Russian funding and participation aimed at causing chaos.
And here (in the U.S)? Silence for now.
And national attention? On other things.
We’d best not end up looking back at what happened in Atlanta, only to ask ourselves why we didn't pay attention when it really mattered.