For three years now, demonstrators have protested outside Hancock Air National Guard Base in upstate New York to voice their opposition to drones being used in overseas wars. But now the protestors have been banned from outside the base, and elsewhere, as a result of a bizarre restraining order requested by a base commander.

Lieutenant Colonel Earl A. Evans, the mission support group commander of the 174th fighter wing group, asked a local judge to prohibit the peace activists from not only approaching Hancock Base, but also his home and school, according to the restraining order. They also cannot communicate with Evans in any manner, including by phone or email.

The demonstrators told The Guardian that they have never met Evans, don’t know who he is, or what he looks like.

One activist, Elliot Adams, called the court order “absurd.” Regardless, if he or any of the other demonstrators violate the restraining order, they could be convicted of a felony and sentenced to seven years in jail.

-Noel Brinkerhoff

To Learn More:

Anti-Drone Protesters Knocked Off Course By Broad Restraining Order (by Karen McVeigh, The Guardian)

Order of Protection (DeWitt Town Court, New York) (pdf)