One of the Antifa rioters arrested over the weekend after setting fire to construction vehicles and attacking police officers with fireworks and Molotov cocktails is the son of a New York City plastic furniture tycoon.
Mattia Luini, 30, whose late father Ivan Luini helped popularize high-end plastic furniture in the United States, is among the 23 protesters accused of carrying out a ‘coordinated attack’ on the Atlanta Public Safety Training Center on Sunday.
The woke activist, who was pictured smirking in his mugshot picture, now insists the violence Sunday night was ‘completely random.’
But video released by the Atlanta Police Department on Monday shows how a mob of 150 protesters descended on the site of the proposed training center — which they have dubbed ‘Cop City’ — and pelted officers with rocks and fireworks.
Luini remained behind bars on Tuesday on domestic terrorism charges, the New York Post reports — despite his mother owning a $2million New York City condo.
Mattia Luini, 30, is among the 23 Antifa rioters who were arrested over the weekend after setting fire to construction vehicles and attacking police officers with fireworks and Molotov cocktails
A group of nearly 150 rioters descended on the proposed site of the Atlanta Public Safety Training Center on Sunday and set fire to construction vehicles
Luini had told his mother, Martegani, he was traveling down to Atlanta over the weekend to attend a concert and ‘protest the development of the forest.’
Martegani later told the Post she has only spoken with her son briefly since his arrest on Sunday.
‘We haven’t been able to talk in much detail,’ she said. ‘He doesn’t know much of what happened.’
She also noted that her son the violence ‘was completely random.’
It came as individuals and activist organizations descend on the proposed site for a ‘week of action’ to protest its development.
The week of action was set to include a Jewish Shabbat service on Friday night, herbal workshops and a ‘know your rights’ workshop.
And as the fiery riot broke out Sunday night, a Weelaunee Music Festival was scheduled for the protesters who have descended into the woods in recent months.
But as the music festival was going on, the Atlanta Police Department said in a statement, activists protesting the development of the training center in the Weelaunee public forest ‘changed into black clothing, entered the construction area, and began to throw large rocks, bricks, Molotov cocktails, and fireworks at police officers.
‘The agitators destroyed multiple pieces of construction equipment by fire and vandalism.
‘Multiple law enforcement agencies deployed to the area and detained several people committing illegal activity.
‘The illegal actions of the agitators could have resulted in bodily harm, and clearly do not reflect a peaceful demonstration. Thankfully, officers exercised sound judgment and restraint while conducting non-lethal enforcement and arrests.’
The police department also released video on Monday showing a mob of around 150 people with masks covering their faces march through scrub and woodland around the proposed $90million center before unleashing havoc and setting fire to a power line.
Police officers protecting the site were forced to stand off as the attackers overran the site and targeted machinery. They were then pelted with rocks and fireworks by the thugs.
Aerial footage of riots show the nearly 150 Antifa thugs marching on the site of the city’s Public Safety Training Center, dubbed ‘Cop City’ by activists
The frenzied thugs torched a power line after gaining access to the site which they’ve dubbed ‘Cop City’
Many of the protesters arrested in the aftermath of the fiery riot came from outside of Georgia, including Luini.
Property records obtained by DailyMail.com show his mother and late father owned a $2million 1,600 square foot condo where his mother still lives, though it remains unclear where Luini was living at the time he decided to take part in the ongoing protests.
He is the son of Ivan Luini, who served as the president of New York-based Kartell US, a high-end Italian furniture company that specialized in plastic design.
The elder Luini was killed in a small plane crash near the Colorado-Wyoming border back in 2006.
Mattia’s mother, meanwhile, is the founder and director of More Art — a nonprofit organization dedicated to creating public art projects throughout the city.
She said she now does not know whether she will visit her son in jail.
‘He’s doing OK,’ Martgani told the Post. ‘I spoke to him recently, but I’m not sure if I’m going to go down to Atlanta.’
Mattia’s mother, Micaela Martegani, is the founder and director of More Art — a nonprofit organization dedicated to creating public art projects throughout the city
Thomas Webb Jurgens, 28, an attorney for the hard-left Southern Poverty Law Center, was also detained after violent clashes between police and protesters at the construction site. Left: his professional LinkedIn picture, right: Jurgens’ police mugshot
Timothy Bilodeau is a former teacher at Acera, the Massachusetts Schools Science, Creativity and Leadership. He describes himself as ‘an aficionado of learning in all forms’. Bilodeau is charged with domestic terrorism
The 23 Antifa ‘terrorists’ who were arrested after violent clashes at the construction site for a police training facility in Atlanta dubbed ‘Cop City’
Others who were arrested include Southern Poverty Law Center attorney Thomas Webb Jurgens, 28.
He joined the SPLC in September 2021 and worked on its Economic Justice Project, according to his LinkedIn page. He has also worked as an assistant public defender and a legal intern at a US attorney’s office in Florida. The Florida Bar’s website lists him as a current SPLC lawyer.
The LinkedIn page includes a professional photo of Jurgens with neatly-styled hair and a suit and tie. The picture is a marked contrast to the mugshot released by police on Monday that shows him sullen-faced in a green sweater with long, unkempt hair and stubble.
Jurgens was present as a ‘legal observer on behalf of the National Lawyers Guild’, the SPLC said.
Despite the violence that’s laid bare in the footage, the NLG made the brazen assertion that the arrests were ‘part of ongoing state repression and violence against racial and environmental justice protesters’.
‘Each of these instances, including the many protesters charged with domestic terrorism, make clear that law enforcement views movement activists as enemies of the state,’ the NLG said.
The SPLC added: ‘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.’
Another protester who was charged, Timothy Bilodeau, is a former teacher at Acera, the Massachusetts Schools Science, Creativity and Leadership. His LinkedIn profile lists him as a teacher of engineering, although a spokesman for the school told DailyMail.com he left his position before the beginning of the 2022-2023 school year.
In a gushing biography of himself, Bilodeau, 25, writes: ‘I’m not just a musician or an engineer. I’m an aficionado of learning in all forms.’
‘Leveraging the power of humor, joy, curiosity, and collaboration, I seek to build self-confidence so students can more effectively express themselves and solve problems in any area of their lives,’ he writes.
Bilodeau also has a degree in mechanical engineering from Northeastern University.
Ehret Nottingham, 22, is a serial activist who has also taken a central role in pro-abortion and fair wage rallies. He says he ‘became an activist’ in 2018
James Mariscano, 29, is a known Antifa activist who has previously been arrested for assaulting a law enforcement officer
Emma Bogush, who also uses the name Bo, was a keen dancer who performed regularly before she turned to activism.
Ehret Nottingham, 22, meanwhile, is a serial activist who has previously taken a central role in pro-abortion and fair wage rallies.
In a interview in June 2020, while studying political science at Colorado State University, Nottingham said he ‘became an activist’ in 2018.
He described himself as a climate activist who was also involved in Black Lives Matter protests, saying he has a ‘whole lot of privilege and a whole lot of ability to affect the world’.
‘The role in my future that I hope to achieve is to be an advocate and the platform I have to make change,’ said Nottingham. He said he met ‘most of my activist friends’ through Instagram.
And Emma Bogush, who also uses the name Bo, was a keen dancer who performed regularly before she turned to activism.
The 24-year-old’s Facebook page includes many photos with her dance teams, and lists vacations to London and Stonehenge in the UK.
