New London ― Police on Monday morning arrested nine protesters who they say blocked the entrances to Electric Boat’s engineering offices on Pequot Avenue.

Police were called to 50 Pequot Ave. at 6:24 a.m. for reports of the gathering and found the blocked entrances were causing traffic backups in the area.

Demonstrators held banners, one reading “Building nuclear weapons is illegal, abide by our treaties, stop building weapons of mass destruction.” The group said it pasted portions of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty onto the driveway at EB entrances.

Police, in a statement, said the group blocking the EB entrances were “afforded ample opportunity to vacate,” but refused and were taken into custody without incident.

Nine people were charged with first-degree trespass, disorderly conduct and third-degree criminal mischief.

The nine were: Scott Schaeffer-Duffy, 65, of Worcester, Mass.; Ed Kinane, 79, of Syracuse, N.Y.; Dan Burgevin, 76, of Ithaca, N.Y.; Ellen Grady, 61, of Ithaca, N.Y.; Art Laffin, 69, of Washington, D.C.; Mark Colville, 62, of New Haven; Bill Ofenloch, 74, of New York, N.Y.; Jaqueline Allen-Doucot, 62, of New London; and Paul Magno, 66, of Baltimore, Md.

All were released on non-surety bonds and are due to appear Nov. 27 in New London Superior Court.

The group of demonstrators identified themselves in a statement as members of the Atlantic Life Community, a network of faith-based activists. The statement referenced what the group called an “illegal war” in Gaza and called for a ceasefire, attempting to connect the nuclear submarines EB designs and the U.S. money spent on the submarines with the war between Israel and Hamas.