NORTHAMPTON — The new year has started with a renewed push by activists to drive the defense tech giant L3Harris from Paradise City — and the latest effort to make that happen ended with the arrest of two protesters Wednesday morning who entered the lobby of the business on Prince Street to make their point.
Wednesday’s action came on the heels of the Jan. 15 City Council meeting where more than a dozen advocates took to the microphone during public comment wearing keffiyehs and anti-L3Harris T-shirts to urge councilors to pass a weapons ban ordinance.
Protesting at the L3Harris site is nothing new for this group of activists associated with Demilitarize Western Massachusetts, who have held numerous similar gatherings in the last year.
On Wednesday, protesters Matti Weisberg and Clara Wagner made their way inside the L3Harris facility shortly after 10 a.m. With their arms tied together with plastic pipes, chicken wire and duct tape, Weisberg and Wagner laid down next to a model of a periscope in the building’s glass-walled lobby.
Police responded within five minutes and the protesters were taken to the Hampshire County Jail in the afternoon.
According to Nick Mottern, an organizer with Demilitarize Western Massachusetts, Weisberg is facing charges of trespassing and resisting arrest. Wagner faces both of these charges, plus an added charge of assault and battery of a police officer.
Their bond amount has yet to be set, and the two will be arraigned Thursday.
Before her arrest, Weisberg provided a short manifesto of what inspired her to enter L3Harris.
“Northampton pitches itself as a national haven of peaceful progressives, dedicated to making the world more inclusive and accepting to all people,” she said. “It makes no sense that we would at the same time subsidize the pockets of war profiteers who make billions off of the oppression and suffering of others.”
While the two were inside, more than 20 protesters gathered on the curb of the facility for a two-hour standout that included chanting, playing drums and sirens, and jeering at employees as they drove out of the parking lot. Many people driving by on Prince Street honked their horns in support.
A spokesperson for L3Harris declined comment on Wednesday.
One year, eight arrests
Demilitarize Western Massachusetts activists said the city can expect to see continued advocacy going forward, said Mottern, adding that the group’s mission is to see the end of global violence and the abolition of the military industrial complex.
Wednesday’s arrests mark the third incident in which protesters have been arrested on the site in less than a year.
In March of last year, four activists were arrested after occupying the lobby. They were later found “not responsible,” essentially meaning not guilty, in a ruling by Northampton District Court Judge Mary Beth Ogulewicz. Then in August two more activists outside the facility were arrested on charges of disorderly conduct.
This brings the total arrests in the past year to eight.
L3Harris, the sixth-largest defense contractor in the United States, has had roots in the city since 2012 when Kollmorgen, a Northampton optics company founded in 1916 that built submarine periscopes, was absorbed by the defense contractor.
In a statement released by Demilitarize Western Massachusetts, the group decried the products the company makes, which supply almost every branch of the U.S. military. The group claims that the products are used to surveil at the U.S.-Mexico border, and have been used by the Israeli Defense Force.
“The Northampton L3Harris plant is known for its optical and lens technology, and creates integral components of the Trident II nuclear submarines,” the statement said. “The Trident II D5 missiles cost $30 million and can carry up to eight 100 kiloton nuclear warheads — about 30 times the explosive force as the Hiroshima bomb. They travel fast enough, 20,000-feet per second, to allow a nuclear strike anywhere on the planet in 15 minutes.”
Making case to council
These sentiments were echoed during last week’s City Council meeting during public comment, where the majority of those who spoke called for a weapons ban ordinance and for L3Harris to move out of the city.
Among the more than a dozen who took a stand was Luke Rotello and Ace Tayloe, both of whom made unsuccessful runs for council last year.
Calling L3Harris a “genocidal war profiteer,” Rotello said the city needs to take action.
“We enter this new council term facing harrowing circumstances,” said Rotello, referencing violence caused by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials, and the recent capture of Nicolas Meduro in Venezuela. “These are political crises that call for political solutions at the level of the council and society.”
Deborah Yaffe of South Deerfield said that, “No matter who is in office, weapons manufacturers are profiting. They profit from death and destruction and they’re instrumental in destroying lives here in the U.S., Palestine and around the world. We the people must act now.”
Kayla Goldstein of Ward 4 called on the city to welcome businesses that prioritize peace and well-being.
“I’m adding my voice to the others you’ve heard tonight calling for Northampton to reject L3Harris, create a weapons ban ordinance and invest in jobs and industries that support life instead of death machines and surveillance technology,” she said.
Amy Bookbinder took a blunt approach with the City Council.
“You should tell L3Harris to get the f*** out,” she said.