Police arrest anti-nuclear weapons protesters near KC National Security Campus

Law enforcement on Monday arrested at least 10 people outside Kansas City’s National Security Campus during a protest against nuclear weapons and a proposed expansion of the facility.

As workers arrived for their shifts, about 50 demonstrators stood along Botts Road in south Kansas City near the entrance to the campus, which includes a National Nuclear Security Administration plant that is operated by Honeywell and manufactures many non-nuclear parts for the nation’s nuclear stockpile. Organizers estimated about half of the demonstrators were from the area.

Holding signs such as “No New Nukes” and yelling anti-nuclear weapon slogans, the protesters tried their best to catch the attention of arriving workers. Ann Suellentrop, a local activist who sits on the national board of Physicians for Social Responsibility, sharply criticized U.S. efforts to build new nuclear bombs.

“We’re going the wrong way. We’re manufacturing our doom,” Suellentrop said.

Kansas City police officers arrested three protesters who ventured onto a construction site across the street. Another seven were arrested after they went on to campus land. One person wrapped “Crime Scene” tape across a National Security Campus entrance sign.

A spokesperson for the Kansas City National Security Campus didn’t immediately respond to questions about the total number of people arrested. At least some of the individuals arrested were loaded into a Kansas City police van.

A Kansas City police spokesperson, Officer Alayna Gonzalez, said the most up-to-date information she had was that 10 people were arrested on allegations of trespassing.

Protesters said Honeywell employees should use their expertise to address climate change and other global challenges. Charles Carney, an activist in the Catholic Worker movement, called the construction of bombs a “moral outrage.”

“Every bomb that is built here is a theft from our most vulnerable citizens,” Carney said.

The protest coincided with Tax Day, but it also came as the Missouri House is poised to pass a bill from Rep. Chris Brown, a Kansas City Republican, that would offer a sales tax exemption on all materials needed to expand the National Nuclear Security Administration’s plant.

The legislation has received bipartisan support from Kansas City-area lawmakers, who argue the expanded facility would create new high-paying jobs in the region. The House gave the bill initial approval on a voice vote last week.

“It’s an incredible economic multiplier for the area for Kansas City,” Brown said. “I think this ask on the sales tax is a small ask if you look at the long-term economic impact.”

The facility’s website states that it’s involved in non-nuclear components and Brown said during the debate that the facility would not have nuclear waste. Since moving to the Kansas City campus in 2014, the facility has grown from 2,400 employees to more than 7,000.

The expansion would provide space to accommodate the agency’s “additional volume of work,” a spokesperson said.