Monthly Archive for June, 2019

Holding signs before their arrest, three Occupy Beale activists remember a recently deceased fellow activist – Michael Kerr photo

Early on the morning of June 25, three peace activists were arrested as they leafleted cars backed up to enter Beale Air Force Base in California. The activists are part of the Occupy Beale group who have returned monthly for eight years to protest at the stateside base of the Global Hawk surveillance drones, like the one recently shot down by Iran over the Persian Gulf.

Mauro Oliveira, Shirley Osgood and Chris Nelson were arrested for trespass and taken into custody after they crossed over the boundary line to reach the commuters waiting just outside the security checkpoint. They distributed a Veterans For Peace leaflet opposing military confrontation with Iran. They were held there for about an hour before being driven into the base for processing, and released after another hour.

Arrested activists welcome more Disobedients onto the police bus

The French nonviolent direct action Collectif des Désobéissants (Collective of Disobedients) coordinated a series of nonviolent direct actions on June 22 to disrupt the Paris Air Show, the largest such aerospace industry and air show in the world.

The air show at Le Bourget airport serves as a showcase for arms dealers from around the world. According to the Disclose survey, French arms dealers at the Paris Air Show are involved in the deaths of many civilians in Yemen: Nexter (Leclerc tanks and Caesar cannons), Thalès (Damocles pods), Airbus (Airplanes A330MRTT, Cougar Helicopters) and Dassault (Mirage 2000-9). 

The objective of this action was to denounce the responsibility of France in the deaths of civilians in Yemen, and demand the immediate closure of this business fair for the merchants of death.