Protesters opposed to Atlanta’s planned public safety training center have caused more than $10 million worth of damages, Mayor Andre Dickens said during a press conference Wednesday.

The press conference was held at police headquarters, The Atlanta Journal Constitution reports, a day after construction equipment was set on fire near a metro area hospital.

“These acts of destruction must end,” The AJC’s Jozsef Papp and Alexis Stevens quoted Dickens as saying during the press conference. “They must stop.”

Dickens added, “What we’ve been seeing lately is not a protest for equality but a way to vandalize our communities.”

According to The AJC, Atlanta police Chief Darin Schierbaum also said protesters “recently claimed responsibility for damaging a fence at the department’s Mounted Patrol unit, letting a horse out.”

Speaking to reporters Wednesday, Schierbaum said those protesters “will continue to be held accountable, and his officers will not back down,” Papp and Alexis Stevens write. “Federal investigators are also involved.” Read more here.

The Atlanta Journal Constitution contributed to this story

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