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·-------~"- ~·,.. . l .. STATEM ENT BY I VAN ALLEN, JR. M A YOR OF ATLANTA On Civil Di sorder in Atlanta, Tuesday, September 6, 1966 The disor.ders in the Summerhill neighborhood in Southeast Atlanta last evening were the result of a deliberate attempt by certain members · of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (Snick) to s:reate an incident of this very nature. We can be thankful there were no serious injuries. Some 10 police officers received minor injuries, mostly as a result of tear gas. Assessment of property damage has not been completed, but it does n~t appear to be too severe. Five City police cars were damaged as a result of bricks or bottles thrown through windows. t l I Seventy-two arrests were made by the Police Department. .. ' Conditions at this time indicate that the violence has ended and calm exists throug_~out the area •. The Atlanta Police Department is now working two twelve-hour s hifts until fur,ther notification by Chie f Jenkins. All off-duty firemen have been placed on alert. The firem e n <?n duty during the night res ponde d promptly and e ffici ently to several calls in the are a. Th e spark of viole nce i gnited b y a fe w r e ckless a nd irrespons ible indiv i du als t ouche d off a n explosion of civil disorde r that shattered Atla nta's long record of rac i a l amity. . .

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�,, . . . . . .. - ... ,, . . .... Page 2 I m us t again c ommend the members of the Atlanta Police Department fo r their prompt response and handling of this situation. The citize ns of A tlanta, and especially the good citizens of SummerhillMecha i:iic sville, can be justly proud of their police officers this morning. I am not talking from hearsay when I say that every citizen of A tlanta ow es a debt of wholehearted gratitu?e to our dedicated police officers, f or I was personally in the thick of the disturbance throughout those frightful hours of mob hysteria. No on e need make charges to me about police brutality during this diso r der, I saw plenty of brutality, but it was being used against the police officers, not by them. From what I heard with my own ears and saw with my own eyes in the center of this melee, I feel certain that hundreds of normally good citizens were inflamed 5out of their normal senses. They were victimized b y those who sought to incite violence. W@ §inc@rely eppr1rniet@ th@ a§t:i.gn gf G@V@:!."nQ;r Cerl Sand~r:~ and the Georgia Department of Public Safety for the backup men and equipment provided to us. It is a tragedy that a few irresponsible and misdirected youths ha v e such utter disregard and contempt for their f ellow man that they p l a ce the lives and property of innocent citizens in serious jeopardy. ,.· ,!'I ,1.· ~~- - �