51黑料

ST. CHARLES 鈥� 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 51黑料 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.

鈥淲e, along with millions of people in the world, have been calling for a cease-fire for weeks,鈥� Tang said. 鈥淲e鈥檙e here, again, demanding a cease-fire.鈥�

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 鈥渆nsure the safety of the demonstrators, employees and community members.鈥�

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鈥檚 defense business is located in the 51黑料 area. The company makes fighter jets, a trainer plane and a refueling drone in 51黑料 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.