By Sue Harris 
April 23, 2025

Twelve people were arrested April 9 for blocking traffic to Travis Air Force Base, a large transport base in California. The activists, who had been called out by the Peoples Arms Embargo, wore the names and ages of some of the more than 15,000 Palestinian children killed in the ongoing genocide in Gaza.

According to an April 9 article by Toby Blomé and Rick Sterling: “Since October 2023, there have been numerous protests at TAFB against U.S. complicity in genocide that have included dozens of arrests. As yet, the district attorney has not filed any charges, including for arrests made post-election. We know this could change at any moment.” (peaceandplanetnews.org)

Most of the people being blocked, including employees at Travis on their way to the base, were patient during the demonstration. One person even shouted, “Free Palestine!” from his car to the crowd. Nevertheless, about 40 police were there with riot gear.

Police first arrested a trans person at the demonstration who was writing down badge information but not blocking traffic. Then, to the tune of a recorded message in English and Spanish, they threatened to arrest anyone blocking traffic or remaining at the demonstration.

Police did arrest 12 people, including one person who was not blocking traffic but just taking photos. She was released after objecting.

Participants noted: “Much to the surprise of the People’s Arms Embargo, police vans carried the remaining 11 arrestees to the Fairfield police station, not the jail, as had happened in previous arrests. All arrestees were placed on chairs sitting outside under the warm morning sun, quickly processed, cited and released by 9:00 a.m., bypassing jail time altogether.” The arrestees were ordered to appear in court at a later date.

The Peoples Arms Embargo had already sent a letter to base commander Col. Jay Johnson about weapons being sent to Israel from TAFB. The letter noted, “Sending these weapons breaks U.S. laws as well as international laws, which we are all obligated to uphold.” It cited a letter from Veterans For Peace that provided details on the laws being broken by sending weapons to Israel, including the Conventional Arms Transfer Policy, Foreign Assistance Act, Arms Export Control Act, U.S. War Crimes Act, Leahy Law and Genocide Convention Implementation Act.

The People’s Arms Embargo concluded its letter by saying: “As commander of Travis AFB, you are especially responsible to ensure that TAFB is not complicit in genocide. Under the Nuremberg Principles, none of us can hide behind the excuse of ‘following orders.’”

Toby Blomé, co-coordinator of the People’s Arms Embargo, said: “The worst tragedy of this horrific ongoing genocide in Gaza is the stolen lives of the children and the unbearable conditions that the survivors in Palestine are forced to live under, with desperately inadequate food, water and medical care, while under the constant terror of continuous bombardment. … We will continue to come to Travis until the ongoing human slaughter funded by our tax dollars stops.” (peaceandplanetnews.org)

These demonstrations are important ways that the people of the United States keep the genocide in West Asia in the center of their awareness. The generally positive response to the demonstrations shows that this message is well received by the public.