The protest blocked the entrance of the Smyrna-based Hudson Technologies facility, which renewed its contract with the Department of Defense in 2021. Police arrested the protester plus five others who were present in support.
SMYRNA, GA.—This morning, one protester locked themselves to a car using reinforced pipes and other equipment while blocking the access road to Hudson Technologies facility in Smyrna. The protester was arrested by Cobb County Police, along with five other people who were there in support of the protest.
All six have been booked at Cobb County Jail. Their charges include loitering and prowling, obstruction, pedestrian in the roadway, impeding the flow of traffic, and improper stopping in the roadway.
In 2021, Hudson Technologies signed a $250M contract to supply the “foreign military customers,” including Israel, with industrial gas and other materials. The protest this morning demanded that Hudson Technologies cancel the contract with the U.S. Department of Defense. That same year, Hudson Technologies extended their contract with the Department of Defense from five years to 10 years. Hudson Technologies is headquartered in New York, but its key facilities are located in Smyrna.
“Hudson Technologies is enabling Israeli’s genocide in Gaza,” said Atlanta Against Genocide in their official press statement. “Over 35,000 people have been killed in the genocide and 20,000 Palestinian children are trapped beneath rubble, buried in unmarked graves, or detained by the State of Israel. Companies like Hudson Technologies, who are profiting off of the death, starvation, and displacement of Palestinians, must be shut down.”
This action occurred the same day of the upcoming presidential debate between President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump taking place in Atlanta tonight at CNN Studios at Ted Turner Campus. There are multiple protests planned in Atlanta to disrupt the debate, with many activists pointing to both candidates’ shared support for the apartheid state of Israel and the ongoing genocide in Gaza. The protests are also a continuation of widespread opposition to the construction of Cop City in Atlanta, as well as the GILEE program housed in Georgia State University, which sends police from across Georgia to train with the Israeli military.
Activists say these partnerships would “only deepen” if Cop City is built.
“The spectacle of a presidential debate is sham when both candidates support genocide and ethnic cleansing,” say Atlanta Against Genocide organizers in their press statement. “But it’s fitting that this debate is happening in Atlanta—a city where democracy is being eroded, and where residents are being denied an opportunity to vote on the fate of Cop City. Amidst this political landscape, direct action is our only option.”
