Monthly Archive for April, 2022

Eight arrested after two hours of blockading construction traffic to stop new Pratt & Whitney plant

Posted on April 26, 2022

Photo by Pamela Mumby

Reject Raytheon AVL shuts down Pratt & Whitney

by Ken Jones
It was an Earth Day to remember. On a beautiful sunny spring day, our local citizen coalition Reject Raytheon in Asheville, North Carolina pulled off a three-part demonstration for the protection of the earth and earthlings and against the U.S. military-industrial complex. We rallied, we paraded, and we took direct action.
The event on Friday, April 22, began at 10 a.m. in the Bent Creek River Park, on the banks of the French Broad River. The park sits exactly next to the new bridge being built for the 1.2 million square foot Pratt & Whitney plant and in the shadow of the Blue Ridge Parkway bridge over the river. Across the river from the park is a dirt road, called Old River Road, that provides access to the many trucks coming and going from the plant every day. On this morning, it was busy, full of power and commerce.

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Good Friday arrests at Lockheed Martin in Pennsylvania

Posted on April 25, 2022

Photo by Harold Penner

from Brandywine Peace Community

At noon on April 15, the Brandywine Peace Community held their annual Good Friday Stations of Justice, Peace and Nonviolent Resistance at the Lockheed Martin facility in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania. Crosses were placed between banners and signs, while a bell of peace tolled. Tom Mullian sang two peace songs. Next, each Station received a reading appropriate for being at the site of the world’s largest nuclear weapons contractor and war profiteer. 

When the readings concluded, a number of those present risked arrest by walking onto the driveway of Lockheed Martin and blocking the entrance. Eventually, three of those in the driveway moved forward onto Lockheed Martin property in an attempt to deliver a copy of the U.N Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons to officials in the main building. They were stopped by Lockheed Martin security and Upper Merion police. A copy of the Treaty was handed to the head of Lockheed Martin security, and the three were then arrested for trespass. Tom Mullian, Fr. Patrick Sieber, OFM, and Paul Sheldon were charged and released on site.

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Arrests after line crossing at Nevada nuclear test site

Posted on April 25, 2022

Two arrested at the close of the Sacred Peace Walk

by Brian Terrell

On Thursday, April 14, Ray Cage of Tucson, Arizona and Catherine Hourcade of Stockton, California entered the gates of the Nevada National Security Site and were briefly detained by Nye County Sheriff’s deputies and National Nuclear Security Administration police. The evening before, Catherine and Ray and about a dozen other activists with the Nevada Desert Experience (NDE) arrived at the historic “Peace Camp” across Highway 95 from the site after walking more than 60 miles from Las Vegas. This land, formerly known as the Nevada Test Site, was commandeered by the United States government from the Western Shoshone nation, and since 1951, is the most bombed and poisoned place on the planet.

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