Photo by Harold Penner
from Brandywine Peace Community
At noon on April 15, the Brandywine Peace Community held their annual Good Friday Stations of Justice, Peace and Nonviolent Resistance at the Lockheed Martin facility in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania. Crosses were placed between banners and signs, while a bell of peace tolled. Tom Mullian sang two peace songs. Next, each Station received a reading appropriate for being at the site of the world’s largest nuclear weapons contractor and war profiteer.
When the readings concluded, a number of those present risked arrest by walking onto the driveway of Lockheed Martin and blocking the entrance. Eventually, three of those in the driveway moved forward onto Lockheed Martin property in an attempt to deliver a copy of the U.N Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons to officials in the main building. They were stopped by Lockheed Martin security and Upper Merion police. A copy of the Treaty was handed to the head of Lockheed Martin security, and the three were then arrested for trespass. Tom Mullian, Fr. Patrick Sieber, OFM, and Paul Sheldon were charged and released on site.
While protestors are typically taken to the police station after being arrested there, they were told there would be no trip in the police van this time, because COVID requires a complex decontamination of the van after any use.
Photo by Harold Penner