CLIMATE and racial justice activists are demanding an independent probe into the police killing of an environmental campaigner in the US state of Georgia.

A coalition of more than 1,300 climate and racial justice groups from across the United States joined a call on Monday for an independent investigation into the killing of 26-year-old Manuel “Tortuguita” Paez Teran earlier this month, and demanded the resignation of Atlanta’s mayor, Andre Dickens.

Tortuguita was shot and killed on January 18 when a joint task force including Atlanta police officers raided an encampment at South River Forest, Dekalb County, south-east of the state capital. The forest is the site of a proposed $90-million (£73m) police training facility known as Cop City.

Over the weekend Mayor Dickens accused protesters of travelling to the city to “wreak havoc” at demonstrations. 

“Within a few hours of the shooting, Dickens tweeted support for [an] injured state trooper and completely ignored the death at the hands of a task force, which included Atlanta police officers, on his watch,” said groups including People v Fossil Fuels, Climate Justice Alliance, and Ikiya Collective. 

Ikiya Collective said: “It is imperative that we demand an independent investigation into the police murder of Manuel ‘Tortuguita’ Paez Teran. 

“We join calls for the termination of the lease and for Mayor Dickens’s resignation.”