The Raytheon 9 are a group of anti-war activists from the Derry Anti-War Coalition who caused considerable damage to the

Raytheon Raytheon Technologies Corporation is an American multinational aerospace and defense conglomerate headquartered in Arlington, Virginia. It is one of the largest aerospace and defense manufacturers in the world by revenue and market capitali ...

factory in Derry,

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

. The nine are: Colm Bryce, Gary Donnelly, Kieran Gallagher, Michael Gallagher, Sean Heaton, Jimmy Kelly,

Eamonn McCann Eamonn McCann (born 10 March 1943) is an Irish politician, journalist, political activist, and former councillor from Derry, Northern Ireland. McCann was a People Before Profit (PBP) Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) for Foyle from 201 ...

, Paddy McDaid and Eamonn O'Donnell. Acting upon information that Raytheon missiles were actively assisting Israel's invasion of Lebanon, and moreover that these missiles were being created at the Raytheon factory in Derry, these nine activists forced entry into the Raytheon offices in Derry on 9 August 2006. They destroyed the computers, documents, and the server of the office, and proceeded to occupy it for eight hours prior to their arrest. Raytheon itself has not issued a press release on the actions of the Raytheon 9. When Raytheon staff returned to the offices they claimed that some of their desks had been urinated on and also had human excrement smeared on them.

Local criticism

The city's

SDLP The Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) ( ga, Páirtí Sóisialta Daonlathach an Lucht Oibre) is a social-democratic and Irish nationalist political party in Northern Ireland. The SDLP currently has eight members in the Northern Irela ...

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members o ...

Mark Durkan Mark Durkan (born 26 June 1960) is a retired Irish nationalist politician from Northern Ireland. Durkan was the deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland from November 2001 to October 2002, and the Leader of the Social Democratic and Labour Pa ...

, said the protesters were jeopardizing future US corporate investment.

Trial

The activists were charged with

criminal damage Property damage (or cf. criminal damage in England and Wales) is damage or destruction of real or tangible personal property, caused by negligence, willful destruction, or act of nature. It is similar to vandalism and arson (destroying proper ...

and

affray In many legal jurisdictions related to English common law, affray is a public order offence consisting of the fighting of one or more persons in a public place to the terror (in french: à l'effroi) of ordinary people. Depending on their act ...

. The trial of six of the accused began 19 May 2008, in the Laganside Courts in

Belfast Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdom ...

. McCann was found guilty of the theft of two computer discs and acquitted of all other charges, and the other five were acquitted of all charges."Raytheon 6 cleared"
''Derry Journal'', 11 June 2008. (accessed 2020-07-26)

References

2006 Lebanon War Irish anti-war activists Anti-war protests Quantified groups of defendants Raytheon Company People from County Londonderry {{NorthernIreland-bio-stub