Jane Fonda arrested during climate protest outside the US Capitol

US actress Jane Fonda has been arrested during a protest against climate change in Washington.

US actress Jane Fonda was arrested and taken away by police following her latest protest at a climate rally in Washington D.C.

US actress Jane Fonda was arrested and taken away by police following her latest protest at a climate rally in Washington DC. Source: EPA

It went just as she'd planned: Jane Fonda was arrested in front of the US Capitol as part of her efforts to join the fight against climate change.

"Today, the United States Capitol Police arrested 16 individuals for unlawfully demonstrating on the East Front of the US Capitol," Eva Malecki, communications director for the Capitol Police, said in an email. They were all charged for crowding, obstructing or "incommoding," she added.

Mike Valerio, a reporter with the Washington, DC, TV outlet WUSA, posted a video on Twitter of the 82-year-old, clad all in red, handcuffed and being escorted off the steps of the Capitol by authorities.

A small group of protesters stood by, applauding.
Ms Fonda, the Academy Award- and Golden Globe-winning actress, activist and former model, recently moved from her Los Angeles home to DC for four months to join the climate change movement.

She was inspired by teenage Swedish activist Greta Thunberg and Randall Robinson, the lawyer who protested outside the South African embassy in the 1980s to stop apartheid.

Ms Fonda's arrest was part of her plan to execute a series of teach-ins and weekly rallies outside the Capitol to urge the government to enact changes to address climate change.

These protests, which Ms Fonda called "Fire Drill Friday," will happen at 11am on Fridays in front of the Capitol, she told The Times in a recent interview.

Every week, they'll highlight a different issue.

She'll be joined by groups including Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth and Oil Change International, all of which are active against climate change.

In the interview, Ms Fonda detailed the changes her rallies will demand.
US actress Jane Fonda speaks at a rally during the international Global Youth Climate Strike in Los Angeles, California.
US actress Jane Fonda speaks at a rally during the international Global Youth Climate Strike in Los Angeles, California. Source: EPA
She said stopping all new leasing permits for fossil fuel development on waters and public lands was the most important, "because no matter what we do, if that doesn't stop, we're doomed."

She's also calling for gradual discontinuation of fossil fuel use over 30 years while ensuring that employees can find work in other industries.

"The fossil fuel industry is going to have to leave trillions and trillions of dollars in the ground, and they're going to be asked to pay for the mess they've made," she said.

"And I have not an iota of compunction about the fact that we should insist on that. Because if they had told the truth 30 years ago, the transition could have been moderate, could have been incremental. But because they lied and covered up what they knew, now what we have to do is radical."

Ms Fonda had hoped to take a year's hiatus from her Netflix series Grace and Frankie, a comedy series she stars in, to live in DC, but she was contractually unable to. Once the show ends, she intends to return to the Capitol steps, she said.

The actress has a long history of political activism. She participated in the 1960s civil rights movement, was a vocal and controversial opponent of the Vietnam War and supported the Black Panthers.

In the early 1970s, Ms Fonda was arrested at a Cleveland airport on suspicion of drug trafficking.

Lab tests later confirmed that the pills she was carrying were vitamins.

And she's not afraid to be jailed again.

"I'm 82 years old, I've been here before," she said in the interview. "I mean, I can't be attacked any more than I already have. So what can [Donald Trump] do? I've got nothing to lose."


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4 min read
Published 12 October 2019 1:30pm
Updated 12 October 2019 5:00pm


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