The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Israeli war protest leads to 10 arrests, police say
Protesters blocked the entrance of Pratt & Whitney in Middletown
MIDDLETOWN — Protesters blocked the entrance of Pratt & Whitney Monday morning to show their opposition to what they say is the aircraft engine manufacturer being “complicit in the arming of the Israeli military.”
The demonstration led to 10 people getting arrested, Middletown police said.
Members of the group stopped traffic by either sitting or standing on Airport Road and parking an SUV across it, police said. Some chained themselves together and sat in the street while others stood, chanting demands that the company stop exporting engines used for “warplanes” that kill people.
An organizer said in a news release that the group of about 50 protesters demonstrated as part of a nationwide effort to “target companies complicit in the arming of the Israeli military during its assault on Gaza.” The group said it is in solidarity with “A15 Action,” which planned economic blockades in more than 30 cities around the world on the same day.
The group that gathered in Middletown lacks a name and refers to itself as “independent,” says it is demanding that Pratt & Whitney “end the company’s contract with Israel and all exports to Israel immediately, and begin the transition to a peace-based economy where the engines will not enable war and genocide,” the news release states.
Pratt & Whitney declined to comment on the protest, said Jenny Dervin, a company spokesperson.
According to its website, the aircraft manufacturer makes a half-dozen engines for military airplanes, including the F119, which powers the F-22 Raptor. The aircraft has the ability to operate supersonically, without afterburning, which gives it “exceptional combat performance without compromising mission range,” the website says.