From the Daily Freeman

WOODSTOCK, N.Y. – At least nine people, some who put their arms in concrete tubes, were arrested as part of a pro-Palestinian protest that greeted Ametek Rotron employees at 6 a.m. on Tuesday and ended a little over nine hours later after state police and sheriff’s deputies from the Ulster County and Orange County cleared two entrances.

Some in the anonymous group of about 35 protesters, who declined to be identified individually but who identified themselves in an earlier email about the action as Protesters for a Free Palestine, were arrested and taken to state police headquarters in Hurley for booking, according to Woodstock Police Chief Clayton Keefe.

The arrests were made after police cut through concrete tubes in which protesters had put their arms, as other members then secured with what appeared to be duct tape over cloth material. At the delivery entrance, there were two people with both arms in a tube and two more with one arm each.

For the first nine hours, there were back-and-forth discussions with police between a representative for the protestors, who would then immediately call an off-site person with an update while the Ulster County Sheriff’s and state police would then contact their agencies.

After more than six hours that Ulster County Sheriff Juan Figueroa had engaged in on-site discussions, there was no agreement with protestors.

“It’s kind of fluid right now,” Figueroa said hours before the arrest. “We’re trying to negotiate … but the company has rights. This is private property so we’re trying to come up with a compromise.”

Earlier in the day, Supervisor Bill McKenna said that blocking access to private property was an issue.

“There are a group of folks who are expressing their First Amendment rights and I think everybody here is in full support of that,” McKenna said. “They are blocking private property, which is problematic, and I think everybody is trying to come up with a solution that ends this peacefully.”

Figueroa, who was at the scene throughout the day, had said that the protestors were disrupting a private business operation.

“I respect people’s First Amendment rights but you can’t block roads and you can’t interfere with others,” Figueroa said, adding that being on private property “makes a huge difference.”

One of the protesters who would only identify themselves as “L” said the protestors were making a point.

“This action is to hopefully not only educate our community that we have a weapons manufacturing plant in our backyard, but also to say, no weapons to Israel, let Gaza live,” the protester said.

The gaggles of police became more animated as they maneuvered the press first to one location and then across state Route 375 as vehicles arrived for the plan to carry prisoners. At about 3 p.m., a state police transport left off about 15 helmeted troopers with bulletproof vests, with that contingent taking orders briefly before walking up to replace the less protected troopers who had lined up in front of the protesters some 20 minutes earlier.

Police preparations for the arrest had begun at about 2 p.m., when they gave the protestors a warning that they would be taken into custody if they did not move off of the property. They largely complied by moving to the state Route 375 right-of-way only to creep closer and closer to the property until ordered back, with a state trooper finally making the point they would be joining their friends if they did not stay behind a rock that seemed to mark the property line.

Protesters who would only identify themselves as being “Hudson Valley neighbors,” said they chose Ametek because the site manufactures fans used by the Israeli Defense Force.

“This has been many months planning,” a woman, who would not provide a name, said.

Following the arrests most of the remaining dozen protesters stayed behind at the delivery entrance to continue their demonstration along the highway.