After moving to D.C. for taking part in climate change actions, actress and activist Jane Fonda was arrested Friday for the fourth week in a row outside the U.S. Capitol Hill during a demonstration. This time, she ended up spending a night in jail.
Fonda was arrested along with over four dozen protesters, including other actresses Catherine Keener and Rosanna Arquette, while they were sitting in the atrium of the Hart Senate Office Building.
The Grace and Frankie star had previously vowed to get arrested every Friday. She temporarily moved to the District in order to join “Fire Drill Fridays,” which is a movement urging politicians to take action on climate issues.
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
Ira Arlook, a spokesman for Fire Drill Fridays, told WUSA9 that the 81-year-old Oscar-winning actress was the only one in the group that spent the night in jail. According to Arlook, Fonda was released on Saturday after appearing in Superior Court.
The activist groups aim to bring attention to the connections between climate crisis and various social problems like human rights and militarism, with the focus of the event changing every Friday.
Fonda was first briefly arrested on October 11 among other climate activists in D.C. protests.
The actress announced in recent weeks that she took time off from her critically-acclaimed Netflix series Grace and Frankie to move to Washington, D.C. to participate in the U.S. Capitol protests against climate change every Friday.
She also shared a video on her official website, where she explained she was inspired by Swedish teenage climate activist Greta Thunberg and the book On Fire: The Burning Case for a Green New Deal by Naomi Klein.
“I’ve been a climate activist for a long time, but it’s different now. It’s far more urgent,” she said. “I’ve decided to upend my life, leave my comfort zone and move to D.C. for four months to focus on climate change. As Greta said: ‘This is a crisis. We have to act like our house is on fire, because it is’.”
Jane Fonda Arrested in Climate Action, After Moving to DC for Periodic Protests