Jane Fonda, Rosanna Arquette and Catherine Keener Arrested Amid Weekly Climate Protests
By Mackenzie Nichols
LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – UPDATED: Jane Fonda’s Fire Drill Fridays advocating for U.S. officials to seriously consider the negative effects of climate change led to the actor getting arrested Friday inside the Hart Senate office building in Washington, D.C. This week, Rosanna Arquette and Catherine Keener joined her and were also arrested, along with activist Emira Woods, Variety has confirmed.
“At approximately 1:10 p.m., the United States Capitol Police responded to unlawful demonstration activity in the Atrium of the Hart Senate Office Building. Forty-six individuals were arrested and all were charged with D.C. Code 22-1307, Crowding, Obstructing, or Incommoding,” said United States Capitol Police Communications Director Eva Malecki in a statement to Variety.
Fonda will also spend the night in jail, according to an announcement sent later in the day from Fire Drill Fridays, and will appear in D.C. Superior Court on Saturday morning. None of the other arrested protesters are being held overnight.
Live-streaming her protests, Fonda posts videos to her Facebook page from the environmental justice demonstrations, detailing the effects of climate change and what she and her followers want from U.S. officials, from a Green New Deal to an end to fossil fuel developments and drilling. This week, the fourth week she has been arrested, the focus of the event was how women and climate are connected and what power women have to stand up for Mother Nature.
Fire Drill Fridays posted a video to Twitter of protesters singing “This Land is Your Land” while waiting their turns to be restrained by police.
Keener was also shown getting restrained by plastic cuffs.
Fonda was then arrested, waving to attendees and giving the crowd a thumbs up.
Arquette then was detained, throwing her fist in the air before getting cuffed.
Hannah Jewell of the Washington Post shared a video of some senate staffers emerging to cheer along with the protesters.
In the past two weeks, Fonda’s “Grace and Frankie” co-star Sam Waterston and Ted Danson were also arrested as they stood in solidarity with Fonda’s message of the need for civil disobedience regarding climate justice. She and her followers have presented their views to U.S. officials on the Capitol lawn and now in the Hart Senate building. Last week, 32 individuals were arrested during the protest.
Fonda also hosts Facebook Live “Teach-Ins” on her Fire Drill Fridays Facebook page which features live-streamed panel discussions with guests the nights before the Drills. This week, she held her “Teach-In” with Woods, senior advisor of the Shine Campaign, an initiative focusing on protecting our planet from the effects of climate change, and Eve Ensler, a playwright known for her play “The Vagina Monologues.” The three talked about the connection between women and climate, this week’s focus.
“Women and the Earth are inextricably bound together, physically, spiritually, and even in our bodies we have more body fat and so we carry an inordinate amount of fossil fuel based pollutants and toxins that can cause cancer and be spread to children in utero, babies in utero, or through breast milk,” Fonda said during the Teach-In. “Women bear the brunt of climate change, but women are also at the forefront of the solutions to climate change.”
According to an interview with the Washington Post and the actresses’ website, Fonda said that she has moved to Washington, D.C. to be closer to the source, vowing to return to the Capitol every Friday through the end of the year with each week representing a different theme.
“The climate crisis is not an isolated issue — it involves every part of our economy and society. Because of that, each Friday demonstration will have a different focus as it relates to climate. Scientists, movement leaders, experts, activists, Indigenous leaders, community members and youth will come together to share their stories and demand that action be taken before it’s too late,” Fonda said on her website.
Variety has reached out to ’s representatives for comment.
