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Four people plead guilty to damaging NH building owned by Israeli defense contractor

Hillsborough County Superior Court - South, Nashua, New Hampshire. Dan Tuohy photo / NHPR.org
Dan Tuohy
/
NHPR
Hillsborough County Superior Court

Four people have pleaded guilty to trespassing and vandalism at a Merrimack business owned by an Israeli defense contractor.

The New Hampshire attorney general’s office says that Sophie Ross, Bridget Shergalis, Paige Belanger, and Calla Walsh trespassed onto the property of Elbit Systems in November 2023 and damaged the building’s windows, the ventilation system, and the roof.

They also dumped paint and left graffiti, while Elbit employees were inside the building. The damage totaled nearly $100,000, the attorney general said.

The four were sentenced to a year at the Valley Street jail in Manchester, with all but 60 days deferred. They were also ordered to pay for the damage they caused and have been ordered to stay 300 ft. away from any property owned by Elbit systems.

Their actions were part of a series of protests against Israel's war in Gaza.

I’m a general assignment reporter, which means that I report on all kinds of different stories. But I am especially drawn to stories that spark curiosity and illustrate the complexities of how people are living and who they are. I’m also interested in getting to the “how” of how people live out their day-to-day lives within the policies, practices, and realities of the culture around them. How do you find community or make sure you’re represented in places of power? I’m interested in stories that challenge entrenched narratives and am drawn to covering arts and culture, as they can be a method of seeing how politics affects us.

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