Mother of Cop City Protester MURDERED By Police Condemns Drama-Obsessed Media

Belkis Terán, mother of protester Tortuguita, who was assassinated by GA police while protesting Cop City, talked to our Tina-Desiree Berg about the murder of her child and failure of the media

We hit the ground running last night as Tina-Desiree Berg and Jon Farina covered the “March for the Forest” protest in Weelaunee Forest as part of the #StopCopCity protests.

There, Tina spoke with Belkis Terán, the mother of Manuel Esteban Páez Terán, known as Tortuguita, who was murdered by Georgia police on January 18th as police raided protesters encamped in Weelaunee Forest in protest of the proposed militarized police compound known as Cop City. For months, police lied about the incident, claiming Tortuguita shot at them first—only for an independent autopsy to expose that Tortuguita was shot 14 times while seated with their hands up.

“Manuel was a caring person, he was a pacifist, he was hugging people; I have many many testimonies that he was helping people, hugging them, like I do," his mother Belkis told Desiree-Berg. She also criticized the media’s coverage of the protests and movement to stop Cop City.

“The problem is that the media…just telling the people the disasters. When he died, hundreds of [journalists] calling me because they wanted my interview to tell me how many shots [were fired at my child]—all the drama. But they don’t inform what is going on, we need to give that information, we need to teach the community what is going on.”

Tina will again be LIVE later today ON-THE-GROUND from Atlanta Georgia covering continued events and protests against Cop City. This reporting, and the freelancer and travel costs associated with it, is expensive. Please CHIP IN any amount to help us cover expenses.

Jordan