Roughly 150 people gathered on Washington Street outside the Bath Iron Works shipyard Friday afternoon to protest what they characterized as its support for Israel in its war in Gaza.
Bath Iron Works, a subsidiary of General Dynamics, builds ships for the U.S. Military, which has increased its presence in the Middle East following the attack by the terrorist group Hamas in Israel in October. In August, the Navy awarded BIW a contract for three more destroyers.
A recently formed group called the Maine Coalition for Palestine organized Friday’s protest, which included a “die-in” in which 25 people laid on the street holding signs and covering themselves in blankets painted to look like they were covered in blood. Other protesters surrounded those on the street, holding signs and chanting.
Cecil Carey of Skowhegan, a teacher who spoke at the event, said the group was protesting because the U.S. government “got money for war but can’t feed the poor.”
“I do not want my tax dollars going to bomb people in the Middle East,” Casey said. “I want my tax dollars helping my students and their families.”
Casey said the group wasn’t targeting the BIW workers, but rather the corporations and government agencies that are funding the war.
About 1,200 people were killed during the Hamas attacks in Israel, and at least 17,177 Palestinians have been killed since then, according to figures from local authorities provided to Reuters.
While the Bath shipyard is a regular target for anti-war demonstrators, the event on Friday appeared to be bigger than others in recent years. Some protesters have been arrested there in the past, but on Friday, it did not appear that any demonstrators had been arrested as of late in the afternoon.
A small group of counterprotesters also came to the event, holding up a sign saying “Long Live Israel, Push Hamas into the sea!!! Build more Navy ships to protect Israel.”
One of the speakers at the protest was Jill Stein, an environmental activist making a long-shot bid for the U.S. presidency as a Green Party candidate.
“Voters are in revolt right now and really want other options,” Stein said in an interview. “We could very well wind up being the option that’s actually on the ballot widely across the country.”
Correction: A previous version of this article misspelled Cecil Carey’s last name and mischaracterized his union status.
