(CNSNews.com) -- After a group of radical left-wingers violently clashed with police at the future site of a police training facility in Atlanta, 23 people were charged with "domestic terrorism." One of the persons charged is Thomas Webb Jurgens, 28, an attorney with the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), a liberal organization that prides itself on "fighting hate" and tracking "extremist groups."
The radicals battled with police on March 5 at the Public Safety Training Facility, dubbed "Cop City," in DeKalb County. The activists reportedly threw rocks and fireworks at the police, and hurled Molotov cocktails to set construction equipment on fire.
"This was a very violent attack that occurred," said Atlanta Police Chief Darin Schierbaum, adding that it was a "coordinated, criminal attack against officers."
The 23 people charged with "domestic terrorism" came from all over the country, including one from Canada and one from France.
The SPLC attorney, Thomas Webb Jurgens, was booked into the DeKalb County Sheriff's Office at 2:19 a.m. on March 6. He was charged with one count of "domestic terrorism."
According to his LinkedIn profile, Jurgens is a staff attorney for the SPLC. He earned a B.A. in History from the University of Georgia and his J.D. from the University of Georgia Law School.
In a March 6 statement, the SPLC and the left-wing National Lawyers Guild said Jurgens was a "legal observer" at the scene where the police were attacked.
“An employee at the SPLC was arrested while acting — and identifying — as a legal observer on behalf of the National Lawyers Guild (NLG)," reads the statement. "The employee is an experienced legal observer, and their arrest is not evidence of any crime, but of heavy-handed law enforcement intervention against protesters."
“This is part of a months-long escalation of policing tactics against protesters and observers who oppose the destruction of the Weelaunee Forest to build a police training facility," said the statement.
"The SPLC has and will continue to urge de-escalation of violence and police use of force against Black, Brown and Indigenous communities — working in partnership with these communities to dismantle white supremacy, strengthen intersectional movements and advance the human rights of all people," reads the statement.
On its website, the SPLC says it "is the premier U.S. non-profit organization monitoring the activities of domestic hate groups and other extremists.... We’re currently tracking more than 1,600 extremist groups operating across the country. We publish investigative reports, train law enforcement officers and share key intelligence, and offer expert analysis to the media and public."
Among the alleged "extremists" targeted by the SPLC is the Family Research Council (FRC), a pro-family, Christian organization that promotes constitutional public policy. The SPLC labels the FRC an "anti-LGBTQ hate group," apparently because it supports marriage between one man and one woman for life.
A recent memo crafted by the FBI, based largely on SPLC research, targeted traditional Catholics for observation, surveillance, and potential infiltration. When that memo was leaked to the public, the FBI quickly rescinded it, claiming it should not have been written.
In a letter to U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland, 20 state attorneys general said the FBI memo, relying on SPLC information, demonstrates that the SPLC "has been utterly discredited as a reliable source."