ARRESTS MADE AT ANTI-NUKE PROTEST AT EB IN NEW LONDON

New London — An anti-nuclear demonstration on Monday that included life-sized wooden cut outs of atomic bomb developer J. Robert Oppenheimer led to several arrests outside the gates of the engineering offices of Electric Boat.

Activists, some of whom are affiliated with the Catholic Worker movement, said in a statement that 27 of the Oppenheimer images mounted on wooden frames were installed across EB’s main entrance on Pequot Avenue. A banner attached to the frames read, “Don’t be a ‘Destroyer of Worlds’ Stop the Columbia sub.”

The statement from the group said the demonstration was an attempt to “bring attention to a new nuclear arms race which is now heating up between the nuclear superpowers in violation of international arms control treaties.”

“Especially now that the movie ‘Oppenheimer’ is up for thirteen Academy Awards this weekend, we want to remind the scientists and engineers of Electric Boat not to repeat the nuclear sins that Oppenheimer regretted for the rest of his life,” Scott Schaeffer-Duffy said in statement.

The activists said they are protesting deployment of an Ohio-class submarine to the Mediterranean Sea, calling Israel’s war against Hamas-led Palestinian militant groups “Israel’s genocide in Gaza.”

Police, in a statement, said the group was “blocking and preventing free passage of vehicles attempting to enter the property.”

The following people were charged with first-degree trespass and disorderly conduct: Jackie Allen, 62, of New London; Ellen Grady, 61, of Ithaca, N.Y.; Frank Kartheiser, 73, of Worcester, Mass.; Mark Scibilia-Carver, 71, of Trumansburg, N.Y.; and Schaeffer-Duffy, 65, of Worcester, Mass.

Nine activists were arrested in a similar protest in November and charged with first-degree criminal trespass, disorderly conduct and third-degree criminal mischief.