A pro-Palestinian protest at Travis Air Force Base in Fairfield resulted in the arrest of dozens of people demonstrating against Israel’s war in Gaza and its support from the U.S. military.
Fairfield police said the protest, involving about 50 people who gathered to “nonviolently stop the supply chain of weapons to Israel,” began at about 6:30 a.m. at the base entrance. Police said protesters were told that while peaceful protests were within their constitutional rights, they could not block the roadway.
Despite the warning, demonstrators took to the road and blocked access to the base, according to police. After failed attempts to clear protesters from the streets, Solano County sheriff’s deputies arrested six people at the base’s South Gate, while Fairfield police officers arrested 20 others at the main gate and two at the North Gate, with the help from the Vacaville Police Department.
A statement from protest organizers revealed that their action was sponsored by more than 20 organizations against Israel’s military action in Gaza. Organizers said there were about 100 protesters, some carrying simulated baby or child corpses covered in shrouds painted to look bloody to indicate: “This is what genocide looks like.”
Police said no force was used against demonstrators and no one was injured during the protest, which ended at 9:30 am.
