Protesters Arrested at Land-Mine Co.

In early October, police arrested sixty-six protesters outside the offices of weapons manufacturer Alliant Techsystems. The demonstrators were demanding that Alliant renounce land-mine production (see The Progressive, November 1997), stop developing the Objective Individual Combat Weapon (a replacement for the M-16 rifle, see The Progressive, July 1998), cease developing the delivery system for Trident nuclear missiles, and explore peacetime conversion.

"Alliant management knows we'll be there for years to come, like a Chinese water-torture," says Mary Davidov, an organizer for Alliant Action, the new name for the informal group that has been holding weekly protests at Alliant for more man two years. "Three or four times a year we're going to block doors."

Susan Walker of the Minnesota Campaign to Ban Land Mines says that since May 1996, between fifteen and forty protesters have shown up at Alliant for peaceful demonstrations every Wednesday morning. Twice each year, they hold larger demonstrations, such as the October actions that led to the arrests.

On October 7 and 8, police arrested forty-seven people as they crossed from the parking lot, where they can protest legally, toward Alliant's main building. The police were more confrontational than usual, says Mary Wareham of Human Rights Watch.

"As soon as they started to cross the street the police arrested them," says Wareham. "They didn't even get to the doors." Police handcuffed the protesters, including a blind woman, two youngsters, seven Sisters of Saint Joseph, and one Franciscan. Officers twisted the arms of some of the protesters and took the cane away from the blind woman.

"The Hopkins police were not really gentle about it," says Kate McDonald, one of the Sisters of Saint Joseph who was arrested. "They put our handcuffs in back of our bodies, which was more restrictive than in front. They were very macho. It seemed like they were overreacting."

Hopkins police chief Earl Johnson says many protesters over the years have praised the Hopkins police for being gentler than most. "I haven't seen any indication of anything different that was done this time around," he says. "I haven't received any complaints."

The police charged four protesters (including three leaders) with trespassing and detained them overnight in the St. Louis Park police station. The organizers say the police targeted them to prevent them from participating in the next day's demonstration, which resulted in nineteen arrests.

Dee Logan, one of the arrested protesters, says Alliant Action will keep trying to prevent land-mine production in Hopkins. "When I found that Alliant is the U.S.'s largest producer of land mines--literally in our own backyard--I felt called to the issue because it was local," she says.

Logan had a personal impetus for her peace work. "Someone I knew long ago named Eddie was killed in Vietnam a few days before his nineteenth birthday. I just happened to be talking with my dad, and he said a land mine killed our Eddie. And who made the land mine? What is outrageous is that 90 percent of the land mines [and booby traps used against U.S. soldiers during the Vietnam War] were made here in the United States. And that's wrong. It's very personal. It affects all of us."

Sister Kate McDonald brings the issue up to the present. "We need to make a public outcry about what is going on in the name of defense," she says. "It's more like outright aggression to be stockpiling up like this and posturing like the big bullies of the world."

For more information, contact the Minnesota Campaign to Ban Land Mines, 4400 Upton Ave. South, #401, Minneapolis, MN 55410, [phone]. Or contact Mary Davidov, Alliant Action, 2615 Park Ave., #404, Minneapolis, MN 55407, [phone].