Seventeen arrests in NYC during protest in support of nuclear ban treaty

On March 5, 17 people were arrested in New York City at the U.S. Mission to the United Nations during a protest in support of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. Participants asked for a meeting with the interim U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. and were refused. Others blocked First Avenue with a giant banner reading “U.S. Join the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.”

March 5th was the 55th anniversary of the entry into force of the Treaty on the Nonproliferation of Nuclear Weapons, which legally binds the U.S. to complete nuclear disarmament at an early date. It was also Ash Wednesday, the beginning of the Christian penitential season of Lent. Another banner held by protesters read, “Nuclear War Means the World in Ashes.” Archbishop John Wester of Santa Fe, New Mexico and author of the only Catholic pastoral letter on nuclear disarmament, distributed ashes prior to the protest.

From March 3-7, the Third Meeting of States Parties to the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons took place at the U.N. “Half of the world’s countries have either ratified or signed the treaty and the U.S. won’t send anyone across the street to observe what is happening with the only treaty negotiated to facilitate global, verifiable nuclear disarmament,” said Kelly Lundeen of Nukewatch. “The U.S. is the key to nuclear disarmament and must sign the treaty and organize the other nuclear armed states to join.”

The protest was organized by the Atlantic Life Community (including many members of the Catholic Worker movement), War Resisters League, Nukewatch and Veterans For Peace.

Those arrested were charged with disorderly conduct, and have court dates on March 24 and 25.