BACK-TO-BACK BLOCKADES OVERWHELM PROSECUTOR
Civil disobedience at Alliant Tech not prosecuted

Two days of blockades in October and 68 more arrests at the Alliant Tech factory in Hopkins, Minnesota, have stumped the city prosecutor. On November 4, he dismissed the trespass charges, citing the high cost and negative publicity of prosecution, and telling a reporter "no matter what we do, they keep coming!" This follows last summer's dismissal of 59 trespass cases resulting from a May 7 blockade at the arms manufacturer.

Local authorities had tried to isolate a few of the perceived leaders by holding three male organizers in jail overnight after the demonstration on Wednesday, October 6 ended with 47 arrests. One hundred people returned to the plant the next morning and another 19 were arrested. All were later cited and released, as were the three men.

Alliant Tech, formerly the largest U.S. producer of landmines, is also a small arms exporter. It has U. S. military contracts for Trident missile propulsion systems and development of the successor to the standard M-16 rifle that could also fire explosive rockets with antipersonnel shrapnel. Alliant Tech also makes anti-tank landmines still exempt from the global ban.

The campaign to convert Alliant Tech, organized by the Midwest Institute for Social Transformation, has brought together new and seasoned nonviolent activists from the area with students from seven local colleges and universities, and regularly brought in nationally known advocates for nonviolent social change to speak and take action. Education and resistance events are being planned for May and October, 1999.

For more information, contact the Midwest Institute for Social Transformation, 2615 Park Ave. #404, Minneapolis, MN 55407, (612)874-7715.