Jane Fonda was arrested for the second time in one week on Friday in Washington D.C., where she was protesting climaxing change outside the U.S. Capitol building. Fonda’s Grace and Frankie co-star, Sam Waterston, was also present at the protest and placed under arrest.
Ira Arlook, a spokesperson from Fonda’s Fire Drill Fridays initiative, confirmed in an email to USA TODAY that Fonda and Waterston were arrested. TMZ was first to report the news and reported that U.S. Capitol Police confirmed that 17 people were arrested Friday.
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A Twitter account for Fire Drill Fridays tweeted at 10:45 a.m. Friday that Fonda, 81, was “walking to the US Capitol to demand a #greennewdeal.” Bundled up in a long red coat and black hat, Fonda had several people following her, including Waterston, 78.
The crowd briefly blocked First Street on the east side of the Capitol, just in front of the Library of Congress. They engaged in a Fire Drill Fridays rally and marched briefly, chanting “Our house is on fire! Put the fire out!” before making their way to the street, where officers arrived within about a minute.
Fellow demonstrators shouted Fonda’s first name as she was put in plastic handcuffs and escorted into a wagon to be processed at a Capitol Police facility. Waterston was arrested soon after that, in what he said was his first time being detained.
Smiling and talking with officers as they searched him and confiscated his personal items, Waterston said, “It’s good to be here.” A crowd of other protestors had clapped for Waterston after one of the demonstrators noted that it was his first arrest.
When asked by a reporter beforehand why it made sense to get arrested as a way to draw attention to the issue of inaction on climate change, Waterston said, “I have to do something. I don’t know. You got a better idea?”
During the rally before the arrests, Fonda called for the passage of the Green New Deal, comparing this moment to the time of urgency that Americans faced in the 1930s with the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl. “Make no mistake. Change is coming whether we like it or not, by disaster or by design,” Fonda said.
“People say that the Green New Deal is radical,” Waterston said at the rally. “What is radical is climate disruption.”
Fonda was arrested last Friday alongside 15 others at the first Fire Drill Friday demonstration, when the demonstrators blocked the steps to the Capitol. She has pledged to take part in 14 Fire Drill Fridays until she has to resume production on Grace and Frankie.
The charges of crowing, obstructing or incommoding are a misdemeanor and generally carry fines of up to $500. The 16 protestors were processed and released last week. They will likely face similar charges for their latest arrest.
Photo credit: Mark Wilson / Staff / Getty
