Jane Fonda Arrested at U.S. Capitol During Climate Change Protest

Actress Jane Fonda has been arrested on the steps of the U.S. Capitol during a climate change protest. According to WUSA9, on Friday morning, Fonda and dozens of young activists took to the Capitol to demand urgent action on climate change, and after a tense encounter with authorities, the 81-year-old actress was arrested. Watch the video of Fonda’s arrest above.

This week, Fonda announced that she is launching “Fire Drill Fridays,” an act of civil disobedience to demand that Congress take urgent action on a Green New Deal to combat climate change. Every week between now and mid-January, Fonda plans on taking to the Southeast lawn of the U.S. Capitol building alongside prominent celebrities, scientists, economists, and people from communities impacted by the phenomenon. The Grace & Frankie star plans to protest each Friday until she is arrested — and today, shortly after 1 p.m. ET, she was forcibly removed from the Capitol steps and taken into custody.

In an interview with The Washington Post, Fonda explained her weekly act of civil disobedience. “I’m going to take my body, which is kind of famous and popular right now because of the [Grace & Frankie] series and I’m going to go to D.C. and I’m going to have a rally every Friday,” she said. “It’ll be called ‘Fire Drill Friday.’ And we’re going to engage in civil disobedience and we’re going to get arrested every Friday.”

In a press release, Fonda explained that she was inspired by young climate strikers like Greta Thunberg, a 16-year-old Swedish student who recently spoke at the United Nations Climate Action Summit. “Our house is on fire,” the press release reads. “We need immediate action for a Green New Deal — clean renewable energy by 2030 and no new exploration for and extraction of fossil fuels.” Adds Fonda, “Change is coming by design or by disaster. A Green New Deal that transitions off fossil fuels provides the design. They say it’s not realistic, that it’s Socialism. That’s what they said about Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal, and we got Social Security and a middle class.”

Despite her arrest, the actress plans on returning to the U.S. Capitol steps next week (and the week after, and the week after) for another protest. Beginning Thursday, October 17, supporters can watch a live streamed teach-in about that Friday’s protest, each of which will center on a different aspect of climate change, from clean water to forests. These teach-ins will feature interviews with experts who will discuss and answer questions  about the next day’s topic.