‘CSI’ Alum Marg Helgenberger, Robert Kennedy Jr. Latest to Be Arrested at Jane Fonda’s Climate Change Protest

Jane Fonda continued her weekly climate change protest on Friday, and it resulted in a few high profile arrests. Fonda herself was not arrested this time, but actresses Marg Helgenberger (CSI) and June Diane Raphael (Grace and Frankie) as well as activist Robert Kennedy Jr. were arrested. The sit-in occurred inside the Russell Senate Office Building.

Fonda has been holding protests since early October in what she calls Fire Drill Fridays. She has been arrested four times since starting the demonstrations. Many celebrities have joined her in the protests, including Ted Danson and Sam Waterston. All have been cited and released shortly after being taken into custody.

The 81-year-old actress explained the movement on her website, writing, “Every Friday, rain or shine, inspired and emboldened by the incredible movement our youth have created.

“I can no longer stand by and let our elected officials ignore – and even worse – empower – the industries that are destroying our planet for profit. We can not continue to stand for this,” she added.

“Our climate is in crisis Scientists are shouting an urgent warning: we have little more than a decade to take bold, ambitious action to transition our economy off of fossil fuels and onto clean, renewable energy,” Fonda continued. “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.”

Fonda appeared on The View earlier this month and was challenged by co-host Abby Huntsman for her protests. “But is there a way to do it without breaking the law? You think of all the peaceful protests that have led to change,” Huntsman said. “I worry about living in an uncivil society.”

“Climate activists have been doing this for 40 years. We’ve been writing articles and we’ve been giving speeches,” Fonda responded. “We’ve been putting the facts out to the American public and politicians and we’ve marched and we’ve rallied peacefully, and the fossil fuel industry is doing more and more and more to harm us and our environment and our young people’s futures, and so we have to up the ante and engage in civil disobedience.”