From Upstate Drone Action

Syracuse, NY - On Good Friday, April 14, nine non-violent civil resisters of Upstate Drone Action were arrested at the main entrance of Hancock Air National Guard Base protesting the extrajudicial drone killings perpetrated from the base. Three people hung on drone crosses representing victims of US drone strikes from seven majority Muslim countries. Eleven others carried smaller drone crosses bearing words, “Drones crucify: Children, Families, Love, Peace, Community, the US Constitution, the UN Charter, the Rule of Law, US Treaties, Due Process, and Diplomacy.

The Good Friday Hancock Drone Action Statement read, “Good Friday commemorates the crucifixion of Jesus.  Recognizing that 70% of our nation identify as Christian, we come to the gates of the Hancock drone base to make real the crucifixion today.  As Jesus and others were crucified by the Roman Empire, drones are used by the U. S. Empire in a similar fashion. In Roman times, crosses loomed over a community to warn people that they could be killed whenever the Empire decided.  So, too, our drones fly over many countries threatening extrajudicial killings and upon whoever happens to be in the vicinity. On this Good Friday, we recall Jesus’ call to love and nonviolence. We’re asking the air force base and this nation to turn away from a policy of modern-day crucifixion.”

Hancock Air Base is located on the backside of Syracuse International Airport. It hosts the 174th  Attack Wing of the NY Air National Guard – the MQ9 Reaper drone hub. It is also the national Reaper maintenance training center.  The MQ9 Reaper is a robotic, satellite-linked, remote assassin drone.  Hancock is presently one of 20 U.S. drone-warfare bases across the U.S., and more in Germany, Australia, Italy, and the U.K.  The “Drone Papers”-leaked by an internal military whistleblower states that during a five month period in 2015, 90% of all drone victims were bystanders, including children.

Today’s civil resistance action is one chapter in Upstate Drone Action’s six-year nonviolent campaign to expose the Hancock AFB war crimes. The drone resistance is linked to the world wide efforts to ground killer drones and end all US wars. Since 2010 there have been over 170 anti-Reaper arrests at Hancock Airbase.

Those arrested today: Veteran for Peace- Ray McGovern, Jessica Stewart of Bath Harbor Maine Catholic Worker, Ed Kinane of Syracuse-Anti-militarist activist, Tom Joyce of Ithaca Catholic Worker, James Ricks, Joan Pleune of Brooklyn Raging Grannies, Mark Colville of Amistad Catholic Worker, John Amidon of Vets for Peace & Albany Friends Mtg., Brian Hynes of NYC St. Joseph Catholic Worker.