Belmont, OH - Strikers facing multiple charges for blocking vans

Ten striking factory workers armed with knives, bats and clubs were arrested after attempting to block vans entering an Ormet Corp. aluminum plant, the sheriff's office said.
The picketers were charged Friday with violating a court order requiring them to stay at least 2,000 feet away from the plant's entrance, Monroe County Sheriff Manifred Keylor said in a statement released on Saturday.

Additional charges of resisting arrest and assaulting law enforcement officers were pending, the statement said.

Police said they seized various weapons from the picketers, including a sledgehammer, an ax, knives, baseball bats and wooden clubs.

Eight pickets were being held Saturday at the Noble County jail and one each in jails in Monroe and Belmont counties, Monroe County sheriff's dispatcher Maria Jones said. She said no other information was available.

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