San Jose, CA – On Monday, June 24, over two dozen protesters gathered in Sunnyvale to protest against weapons manufacturer Northrop Grumman and to demand that the war industry be shut down. The protest was called by San Jose Against War as part of Anti War Action Network’s national Week Against Weapons.

The protest began at a local train station, where organizers passed out flyers to weekday commuters with information about local South Bay weapons manufacturers such as Northrop Grumman, Lockheed Martin and L3Harris. The crowd then marched to the Northrop Grumman manufacturing facility a few blocks away. During the march, people held signs declaring “Northrop Grumman kills children” and chanted slogans such as “Northrop Grumman, you can’t hide – we charge you with genocide!”

Upon arriving at the manufacturing facility, protesters gathered in front of the Northrop Grumman sign just outside the gated complex. Several Sunnyvale police and Northrop Grumman private security surveilled the protest from nearby. Protesters remained undeterred and continued chanting directly to the Northrop Grumman employees inside.

The Raging Grannies led the crowd in a powerful anti-war protest song. Noble Mushtak of San Jose Against War spoke to the crowd about Northrop Grumman’s direct role in the bombing of Palestine, saying, “Northrop Grumman is directly complicit in the Israeli genocide. They have an agreement with Elbit Systems, Israel's largest military contractor, to provide the component parts that are necessary for Israel’s main aircraft, the F35 aircraft.”

Mushtak added that Northrop Grumman “also creates the warfare system and fire control radar for the F16, which has been used repeatedly for attacks not just in the West Bank and Gaza, but also in Lebanon, where they have targeted civilian homes, civilian infrastructure and refugee camps. They are targeting the most vulnerable people in the world, in Palestine and in Lebanon.”

While the protest was occurring, attendees received the news about Julian Assange’s newfound freedom. Protesters gave impromptu speeches about the importance of Julian Assange’s journalistic exposure of U.S. war crimes and celebrated that this victory is a victory for all anti-war activists.

The protest was diverse and ranged in age from children to the elderly. Protesters made it known that the people of the South Bay stand in strong opposition to the Israeli genocide in Gaza and to all U.S.-backed war and that they recognize the active role that local weapons manufacturers play in these ongoing atrocities.

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