Three activists opposed to nuclear weapons pose with banners before their reported arrests on Saturday. From left to right, the three are Michael R. Walli, Megan Rice, and Greg Boertje-Obed. (Submitted photo)
Note: This story was last updated at 6:40 p.m. July 29.
Three Plowshares protesters who oppose nuclear weapons allegedly sneaked through four fences at the Y-12 National Security Complex before dawn Saturday and spray-painted messages and splashed human blood on the walls of a uranium storage building before they were detained by security guards, an activist said.
The three were identified by supporters as Michael R. Walli, 63, of Washington, D.C.; Megan Rice, 82, of New York; and Greg Boertje-Obed, 57, of Duluth, Minn.
They are now in the Blount County Corrections Facility, said Ellen Barfield, of Baltimore, Md., who said she is a longtime anti-war and anti-nuclear weapons activist and friend of the three detainees.
Federal spokesman Steven Wyatt wasn’t able to confirm the identity of those arrested, but he said they entered a high-security area on the west end of Y-12—the Protected Area—at about 4:30 a.m. Saturday, spray-painted a building there, and splashed a substance that appeared to be like blood on a wall.
It could be the first security breach of that area, Wyatt said.
“I don’t ever recall this happening before at Y-12,” he said.
