Actress Jane Fonda was arrested for the fourth week in a row in Washington, D.C., while advocating for congressional climate change action at the United States Capitol and will spend the night in jail.
Fonda, 81, was arrested Friday afternoon alongside fellow actresses Rosanna Arquette and Catherine Kenner, both 60. Fonda was arrested at the Capitol last week with actor Ted Danson, 71, and the week before with Grace & Frankie co-star Sam Waterston, 78.
We are in the US Senate Hart building where @Janefonda was just arrested for the 4th time demanding #ClimateJustice and uplifting the disproportionate effects on women from climate change. #FireDrillFriday ? pic.twitter.com/UCZKDqqxge
— Fire Drill Fridays (@FireDrillFriday) November 1, 2019
A spokesperson for the actress indicated that she “is spending the night in jail” and will appear in Superior Court at 10 a.m. on Saturday morning.
Jane Fonda spokesperson confirms she will be spending her first night in jail tonight after being arrested today for unlawful demonstrating in DC. She’ll appear in Superior Court tomorrow at 10am.
— David Mack (@davidmackau) November 1, 2019
Fonda has long been known as a left-wing political activist whose name became synonymous with controversy after she was dubbed “Hanoi Jane” for posing on a North Vietnamese anti-aircraft gun in 1972. Arquette made headlines earlier this year for sharing her disgust at being born into privileged circumstances.
“I’m sorry I was born white and privileged,” she said in August. “It disgusts me. And I feel so much shame.”
The actresses’ Friday arrest followed the fourth installment of the Fonda-organized “Fire Drill Fridays,” which she says will take place on Capitol Hill every Friday for four months to provoke lawmakers to support tackling global climate change. Each week, the protest, which met in the Senate Hart Office Building on Friday, adheres to a specific theme related to climate change. This week, Fonda told her supporters and fellow protesters that women were the most affected victims of climate.
“Women bear the brunt of climate change, and women hold many of the solutions to climate change,” Fonda said. “In developing countries, it’s women and girls who plant the crops and harvest them and fetch the water and chop the wood to help their families survive. And when there is a climate crisis, the crops fail, and women sometimes have to walk for days to find water and wood if they ever even find them.”
“Let’s always choose love, empathy, and our shared humanity.” #firedrillfriday @Janefonda pic.twitter.com/DkDQ0P5MkS
— Fire Drill Fridays (@FireDrillFriday) November 1, 2019
Fonda stated in October that she plans to be intercepted by law enforcement every week throughout the organized protests.
“I’m going to take my body, which is kind of famous and popular right now because of the series, and I’m going to go to D.C., and I’m going to have a rally every Friday,” she said after the first arrest. “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.”
