ATLANTA — A small crowd in downtown Atlanta made sure to try and send a big message outside a federal appeals court Monday in their quest to stop the development of the Atlanta Public Safety Training Center.

A group of roughly a dozen activists gathered outside of the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals building in Atlanta Monday morning to hold a rally and collect signatures for a referendum proposal.

They are pushing back against the City of Atlanta’s recent appeal of a ruling that favored activists.

“We want the people to have a voice,” said Keyanna Jones with Community Movement Builders. “And we don’t want this court to uphold Mayor Dickens’s attempt at voter suppression.”

The City of Atlanta appealed a federal court decision that ruled in favor of activists in their quest to put the training center on the ballot for voters in November.

Attorneys for the city are appealing a decision that allowed DeKalb County residents like Jones and others outside of city limits to collect signatures.

“This project, Cop City, is a project that affects every facet of the way we live,” Jones said.

The appeal also put a hold on a 60-day extension granted by the judge.

Activists say they’re still working to collect their 70,000-signature goal by the original deadline at the end of the week.

“If this appeal doesn’t go in our favor, then they’re undoing all this wonderful grassroots organizing we’ve dedicated our summers to,” said student activist Eliza Fausset.

Late Monday morning, the judge denied the city’s appeal.

The proposed training center on city-owned land in DeKalb County is being called a necessity by Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens due to poor conditions at the existing training site.

The city council has approved $31 million in public funding, but critics remain skeptical.

“There’s not a new facility that’s necessary,” Jones said. “They can fix what they have.”

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