Jane Fonda Arrested Outside Capital Building in D.C. During Climate Change Rally

Actress Jane Fonda was arrested outside the Capital building during a climate change protest in Washington, D.C., on Friday, October 11. “This is a collective crisis that demands collective action — now,” she said prior to her arrest.

“Change is coming by design or by disaster,” the two-time Oscar winner, 81, said in a press release ahead of the event. “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.”

.@Janefonda is the THIRD arrest here at the US Capitol… The moment it happened…@WUSA9 #ClimateChange #FireDrillFriday #breaking pic.twitter.com/wWoZggYloN

— Mike Valerio (@MikevWUSA) October 11, 2019

The Grace and Frankie star has moved to D.C. for the foreseeable future to lead a set of strikes to be held every week — meaning this likely isn’t the first arrest that will happen — until work requires her to film the final season of the show.

“I’m going to take my body, which is kind of famous and popular right now because of the [television] series and I’m going to go to D.C. and I’m going to have a rally every Friday,” Jane told The Washington Post via email. “It’ll be called ‘Fire Drill Friday.’ And we’re going to engage in civil disobedience and we’re going to get arrested every Friday.”

This initiative, Jane explained, was inspired by famed climate change activist Greta Thunberg, a 16-year-old girl from Sweden. “Greta said we have to behave like it’s a crisis,” Jane noted. “We have to behave like out houses are on fire.”

This is a collective crisis. #firedrillfriday @Janefonda #ClimateEmergency pic.twitter.com/2Ck9Sovzsn

— Fire Drill Fridays (@FireDrillFriday) October 11, 2019

This is by no means the first time Jane has gotten political. During her life, she has spoken out against the Vietnam War, supported women’s rights and been an ally to people of color and the LGBTQ community. In 1970, she was arrested at Cleveland Hopkins International Airport on suspicion of drug trafficking and, in 2009, claimed that the Nixon White House had specifically targeted her. All charges were eventually dropped, but what resulted from this is perhaps the most infamous mugshot of all time. The black-and-white photo simply shows the then 32-year-old raising a fist.

Jane has also invited fellow actors Ted Danson, Kyra Sedgwick and Catherine Keener as well as The Vagina Monologues playwright Eve Ensler and Ben & Jerry’s cofounder Ben Cohen for future demonstrations.