Five People Facing Charges After Storming Raytheon In Cambridge

CAMBRIDGE, MA —Five people were arrested after a group of anti-war protestors scaled the Raytheon building in Cambridge Monday.

Police reported twenty to thirty people chanting outside the building while a small group climbed onto the roof around 8:15 a.m. to draw attention to their cause, claiming Raytheon "profits from death" in Ukraine, Yemen, and Palestine.

Raytheon Technologies is the second-largest defense contractor in the United States and is headquartered in Waltham, with an office in Cambridge.

Officers say the demonstrators set off "smoke devices" and locked themselves together, refusing to come down or cooperate. Nearly four hours later, officers arrested the demonstrators from the roof for breaking and entering daytime for a felony, vandalizing property, and trespassing, Cambridge police tweeted.

Police say the remaining protestors on the ground left shortly after the ones on the roof were arrested.

The activists say they were from the group Resist and Abolish the Military-Industrial Complex, and said they were upset by comments made by chief executive Gregory Hayes in January when he suggested his company could benefit from a Russian invasion of Ukraine and rising military tensions.

They said wanted to bring attention to the company's weapon sales to Saudi Arabia and Israel, and what they call Raytheon's record of "human rights violations."

Patch reached out to Raytheon for comment on the protests but has not heard back yet.

The five arrested are expected to be arraigned in Cambridge District Court.