Dozens of pro-Palestinian demonstrators were in Longueuil, on Montreal’s South Shore, early Tuesday morning to interrupt operations at Héroux-Devtek, an international aerospace company that designs, develops and manufactures landing gear.
The group disrupted daily operations at the company’s Thurber Street plant by blocking road access and barring access to the main doors.
The goal, according to a press release by the Palestinian Youth Movement, is to demand “an end to the arms trade with Israel.”
The demonstrators say they also want “an end to their [the company’s] participation in [the] Lockheed Martin’s F-35 program and with Israel and the Israeli Occupation Forces.”
“Hundreds of thousands of people across Canada have been mobilizing for over five months to stop this genocide,” said Sarah Shamy, a spokesperson for the Palestinian Youth Movement, who was not involved with the blockade. “The people know that they cannot rely on their complicit governments to take meaningful steps to end the Israeli occupation of Palestine, so we have taken matters into our own hands.”
The group is promising weekly marches, vigils, rallies and other actions to disrupt weapons manufacturers and the economy at large “until Palestine is free.”