Middletown police arrested 10 people during a protest on Monday morning.
Police said they responded to Aircraft Road, near Pratt & Whitney, around 5:37 a.m. after receiving a report that people were chaining themselves together and blocking the entrance to the facility.
“There’s many workers here that, unfortunately, their shifts were interrupted. But we want to raise the awareness that there are people starving to death in Gaza, and American weapons are being used to enforce that siege and genocide in Gaza.” Eamon Ormseth, one of the protesters, said.
Once they arrived, officers found several people sitting in the road with their arms interlocked inside tubes and others standing in the road chanting and filming the protest against the war in Gaza, police said.
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The protesters had also placed a vehicle across the road, blocking part of Aircraft Road, and Pratt & Whitney campus employees could not enter or leave the campus, police said.
Members of the South District Fire responded and Middletown police asked for mutual aid.
State police, Meriden Police, Cromwell Police, and Berlin Police sent officers to assist.
The vehicle that was blocking the road was quickly removed, police said.
And officers tried to get the protesters to leave the road and avoid arrest, but several protesters were not leaving after multiple warnings and police decided to arrest anyone who obstructed traffic, police said.
The South District Fire helped police and removed protesters from tubes, police said, and no injuries were reported.
Ten people were arrested and charged with disorderly conduct.
Around 50 people took part in the protest and said they were urging the company to stop providing aircraft to Israel.
“This facility makes engines for the F-35 and F-15 fighter jets. Those jets are actively bombing Gaza as we speak,” another protester said.
The protesters said their goal Monday was to delay production as long as possible.
The 15-year contract went into effect on Jan. 1, 2016. The news release from the contract said The Israeli Air Force has operated Pratt & Whitney-powered aircraft since 1947.
NBC Connecticut has reached out to the company for comment.
Aircraft Road was opened to traffic around 8 a.m.
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