Lifelong protestor Jane Fonda arrested in D.C. over climate change protest
Jane Fonda is almost as famous for her political activism as she is for her acting career. The 81-year-old recently moved to Washington D.C., promising weekly protests. She told The Washington Post, “I’m going to take my body, which is kind of famous and popular right now because of the series [Grace And Frankie] and I’m going to go to D.C. and I’m going to have a rally every Friday,” which she’s calling “Fire Drill Fridays.”
Fonda kicked off her new project in typical determined fashion, getting arrested on Friday during a protest related to climate change protest with the group Oil Change International. She was the third person arrested. She stated at the protest, “We don’t have very much time, and it’s really urgent.” Eva Malecki, spokeswoman for the Capitol police, told The Hollywood Reporter, “Today, the United States Capitol Police arrested 16 individuals for unlawfully demonstrating on the East Front of the U.S. Capitol.”
Fonda predicts she will protest every Friday over the next 13 weeks, and has a Twitter account set up for Fire Drill Fridays. Thursday evenings of her project will feature “online teach-ins featuring climate scientists talking about different aspects of global warming.” The Post also reports that Fonda will turn 82 this December on a Friday; naturally “she’s planning on celebrating by getting arrested in Washington.”