ANOKA, Minn. — At least nine people were arrested after a demonstration Wednesday morning, July 2nd, in front of a company that produces military ammunition in Anoka, Minnesota. Antiwar protesters blocked streets and snarled traffic outside the facility. According to authorities, dozens were involved in the protest. At one point, police responded to the Federal Cartridge bullet making facility to “remove protesters who have affixed themselves to the area.”
Activists with Project to Stop the War Industry were protesting aerospace and defense technology company ATK, saying they benefit from the escalation of violence overseas. “We are doing what we can to disable local branches of the war industry in order to challenge the wars of aggression that are being fought in our name,” PSWI said, in a news release.
ATK creates munitions and rocket motors for the military. Last year, ATK registered $4.2 billion in total sales, with at least 52 percent of sales to the U.S. military.
“The prosperous collusion of the U.S. government with private weapons manufacturers like ATK tells us that our reason for staying in Iraq have nothing to do with human welfare, and everything to do with the preservation of power and profit,” PSWI said.
The protest began at about 8 a.m. as protesters blocked the entrance to the nation’s largest producer of military ammunition. Protesters bound themselves together at the arms with chicken wire and PVC piping and laid down in front of the building. Officers were forced to pry apart the binding. Protesters said they wanted to shut down production.
“We’re trying to show people that the war is in their community. This is a point of entrance for the weapons to go to Iraq,” said anti-war protester Michael Galvin. “It’s coming right out of the Twin Cities. And we’re here to say stop war profiteering. Shut them down.”
[This post is a compilation from two articles, go here and go here.]
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