ST. CHARLES — Pro-Palestinian demonstrators gathered in front of the Boeing facility here, preventing workers from entering the site for a few hours Monday morning as they called for a cease-fire and criticized the company for supplying weapons to Israel.
About 75 people gathered at the Boeing gate on Third Street, chanting, drumming and dancing. Organizers said some were with the anti-war group Dissenters, while others came from the ºüÀêÊÓƵ Palestine Solidarity Committee and Resist STL.
Rose Tang, a youth organizer with Dissenters, said the protesters at the facility Monday were part of a coalition of groups from across the Midwest.
“We, along with millions of people in the world, have been calling for a cease-fire for weeks,†Tang said. “We’re here, again, demanding a cease-fire.â€
The group stood in front of the gate into the Boeing site, some holding banners. Seven people stretched across the lanes holding up a black cloth banner covered in names handwritten in small, white letters. Tang said the names belong to Palestinian children who have died.
Hamas, the militant group that has controlled the Gaza Strip since 2007, launched a devastating attack against Israel on Oct. 7, killing more than 1,400 and taking more than 200 hostages.
Since then, Israel has dropped thousands of bombs on Gaza, killing more than 10,000 Palestinians, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, though U.S. officials have cast doubt on the tally. Israel has also cut off the strip from basic resources.
Local Boeing officials said in a statement Monday morning that the company was working with law enforcement to “ensure the safety of the demonstrators, employees and community members.â€
A Boeing spokesperson said Monday afternoon that employees who could work remotely were allowed to do so, but most workers were on-site for their shifts, and deliveries were not canceled.
Much of Boeing’s defense business is located in the ºüÀêÊÓƵ area. The company makes fighter jets, a trainer plane and a refueling drone in ºüÀêÊÓƵ County and St. Clair County, Illinois. The St. Charles site makes munitions.
Boeing produces JDAM kits, which can turn bombs into GPS-guided weapons, at the St. Charles plant and is said to be speeding up delivery to Israel of more than 1,000 of them, according to the Bloomberg news service.
Over the years, the St. Charles facility has been an occasional site for demonstrations. In 2018, activists blocked the gates to protest the sales of arms used in Yemen, according to reports from multiple local news outlets. In 2003, the Post-Dispatch reported that several anti-war demonstrations were held outside its gates in the lead-up to the U.S. invasion of Iraq.
Precision-guided munitions made by Boeing have played a role in conflicts in the Middle East, including the current Israel-Hamas war.
Members of a group sympathetic to Palestinians dance during a protest outside the Boeing facility in St. Charles on Monday, Nov. 6, 2023. The protesters blocked multiple entrances to Boeing Building 598, to protest the company making arms that the U.S. supplies to Israel, which is at war with Hamas in Gaza.Â
Protesters block an entrance to a Boeing facility on Highway 94 in St. Charles on Monday, Nov. 6, 2023. The group was blocking multiple entrances to Boeing Building 598, saying in a social media post that it was protesting the company making arms that the U.S. supplies to Israel, which is at war with Hamas in Gaza.
A protester leads a chant as a group sympathetic to Palestinians protests outside the Boeing facility in St. Charles on Monday, Nov. 6, 2023, for the part they say the defense company plays in Israel's current bombing campaign in Gaza.
Boeing security guards stand by as a group sympathetic to Palestinians protest outside the company's St. Charles facility on Monday, Nov. 6, 2023. The group says the defense company plays a part in Israel's current bombing campaign in Gaza.
A group sympathetic to Palestinians protest outside the Boeing facility in St. Charles on Monday, Nov. 6, 2023, for the part they say the defense company plays in Israel's current bombing campaign in Gaza.